A New Journey In Kalos!
by jmWarrior13583
Summary: With Spring already arriving, and Winter finally coming to an end. A fourteen year old boy named Alex has a dream of becoming a Trainer, but his mother won't let him. Eventually though... His dream comes true, and he starts a new dream! To become Champion of the Kalos Region! Follow Alex as he journeys throughout Kalos! Making new friends, rivals, enemies, and achieving his dream!
1. Ch 1, A Dream Come True!

**_Ch. 1, A Dream Come True!_**

 _ **Authors Note: "I do not own Pokémon, or any of it's characters! Gym Badges, City names, etc. I am simply just writing this story for the fun of it! Enjoy reading!"**_

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

 ** _Play Song: (Morning Relaxing Music - Positive Feelings and Energy (Adele) watch?v=wuLKvcn-c7A)_**

The springtime has just arrived in the bustling Lumiose City, the central city of the Kalos region. With spring finally here, brings new hopes and dreams, including one boy named Alex, who's biggest hope is to have a Pokémon of his own! On one bright sunny day in the Kalos region, in Lumiose city. We stumble upon a young fourteen year old boy named Alex, who was sleeping peacefully in his bedroom. Even though he was fourteen he never had the chance to become a Pokémon trainer. His mother was always worried and didn't want him to be outside for too long. He was usually inside the house all day, playing his Wii U. He didn't really know much about Pokémon. Sure... He's seen Pokémon before, but he's always dreamed about becoming a Pokémon Trainer. That's when he started thinking more about his dream. Maybe it would come true one day?

"Probably not... Get ahold of yourself Alex, it's never going to happen... Not in a billion years." He thought.

He sighed in sadness, he tried convincing his mother about it before in the past, but it didn't end very well... She would always deny him and that would make him really upset or even mad sometimes...

"What if I try it again? Maybe if I beg or something... I'm sick and tired of being inside all the time! That's it! I'm going to ask her right now." Alex thought to himself.

He got out of bed and went downstairs to talk to his mother about it. When he got down, he spotted his Mother who was already making breakfast.

"Morning Alex!" His mother greeted happily.

"Morning mom! Hey I was wondering if we could talk about something important?" He greeted her back, feeling a bit nervous about what he was going to ask.

"Sure honey, anything!" His mother replied back, turning around and smiling at him widely.

"I've been thinking lately, and it's been a couple of weeks since I've asked you this question." Alex started off, getting to the point.

His mother stopped smiling and gave him a sly frown, wondering what he was going to ask her.

"I wanna be a Pokémon Trainer, but you refuse to let me go! Why?" Alex finished his words, hoping to find an answer from her.

She sighed and spoke softly to him saying,

"I know you wanna be a Trainer, but I just don't want you to go. I'm scared that something will happen to you out there!"

"Ugh! You always come up with a random excuse!" He yelled at her, he was filled with rage, and confusion, not understanding why she didn't want him to go.

"I know... But you don't know what it's like out there. There's a lot of dangerous places in the Kalos region. If something were to happen to you, I would never be able to forgive myself. There's mean people and wild Pokémon out there too you know!" She explained her reasoning.

Alex didn't understand her one bit, which was only making him more upset, confused, and angry too...

"Again with the excuses! Kalos doesn't seem like a dangerous region! And besides... I'll have Pokémon, so how could I possibly get hurt? They'll protect me you know! I'll train them and they'll be really strong! If I can take care of myself most of the times, then I'm old enough to go out there on my own and raise and train Pokémon. It's always been my longtime dream to become a Trainer ever since I was little, why can't you understand that? There are plenty of other kids younger than me that become a Trainer when they're ten years old!" Alex started talking and talking, getting more frustrated with her.

He didn't know whether or not if he was going crazy, or if he was giving a good point of his argument with her, but his mother didn't reply to his statement. Instead, she went back to cooking... She always did that to him... He would bring up the same topic over and over again, but she would ignore it and try to talk about something else, or even block him out and move on to something different just so that she wouldn't have to talk about it any more. Alex was angry at her though, he was annoyed and very upset at this point. He ran upstairs back up into his room and slammed the door shut with rage. He didn't speak to her for the rest of the day, he even skipped dinner too. He locked the door in his room so that he wouldn't be disturbed by his mother, then he kicked his bed as hard as he could, and threw all kinds of stuff around the place, causing a huge mess to clean up in his bedroom. Then after a bit of taking it in, he decided to calm down and play on his Wii U for the rest of the day, his mother tried to get him out of his room later on in the evening, but he refused to leave it. He didn't even reply back to her or anything, he simply just laid there in his room, the whole day without saying a word to her...

 _ **Hours passing by later...**_

It was dark out, and Alex was laying in his bed. He looked outside of the window and then thought to himself,

"Why can't I become a Trainer? Is it... Really so bad out there, that I can't understand it? Or am I not even allowed to even touch one Pokémon?"

He sighed, then a tear escaped from his eye, he didn't get that much sleep because he was too busy thinking about his dream of becoming a Trainer one day. That's when he heard loud shouting coming from outside his bedroom window. He was curious to see what was going on outside, so he opened the window and looked outside. He saw someone standing by a streetlight pole, examining the person for a minute and he noticed a small Pokémon too that was right next to the person

He heard the person shouting some more saying,

"I can't believe I picked you to be my starter! You couldn't even beat Clemont or Viola! You're way too weak to even be considered a Pokémon! I don't need you anymore. Have fun finding another Trainer who would want you on _their_ team!"

Alex took a closer look at the small Pokémon next to the Trainer. It was very small and he couldn't tell what it was because it was so dark outside. What made him furious was the fact that the Trainer left the Pokemon alone in the dark.

"That's not right! That jerk! You can't treat a Pokémon like that!" Alex thought, clenching his fists in anger. He changed into his clothes really quick and jumped out of the window, He landed perfectly on the ground without injuring himself in any way, and immediately ran straight to the little Pokemon, crossing the empty street. The Pokémon noticed Alex and took a step back towards a streetlight, hiding away in fear.

"Hey... It's okay, come here little fella." Alex whispered quietly to the small little creature, trying not to scare away the little Pokémon.

He heard the Pokémon sniffle a bit, and it sounded as if it were sad, or crying even.

"You alright? I saw what happened and just wanted to come outside and see if you were okay." Alex explained why he came.

"Fen?" The Pokémon replied back.

The voice sounded depressing, and it almost broke Alex's heart hearing it. He could tell that the voice belonged to a very sad Pokémon. He extended his hand towards it, wanting to see what it was, but it was still too dark out... The Pokémon walked towards his hand slowly and touched it's head against it. It rubbed it gently, Alex felt happy all of a sudden. He rubbed the little Pokemon's head, and was trying to make sure it felt loved. He picked it up slowly so he wouldn't startle it, and the Pokémon didn't startle one bit! He carried it towards the light and it revealed a very dirty looking Fennekin.

"Oh, so you're a Fennekin Huh?" Alex whispered.

Fennekin nodded it's head happily, smiling at him happily, wagging her tail in the process.

"Why would that trainer ditch you like that? You're one of the three starters a Trainer gets to pick, and you're all dirty too." Alex told it.

He looked around and tried to find out where the Trainer ran off to, but he couldn't. The streets were empty, there was no sound at all, everything was silent. That's when the little Fennekin climbed up on Alex's arm and jumped on top of his head. It licked him on the face just before climbing up, and Alex laughed, walking back to his house.

"I think we should get you cleaned up! You're pretty dirty!" Alex exclaimed, chuckling at the Pokémon.

He felt Fennekin shiver and he too felt cold from the freezing wind that traveled through the streets. When he got back to his house, he jumped through the window and closed it again. He quietly made his way through the house without making a sound, locating the bathroom, and closed the door behind him when he got into the room.

"Alright... Well you can stay with me if that's okay with you, but I should clean you up first." He mumbled to the Fire Type fox.

"Fennekin..." Fennekin sighed slightly, but she showed him a warm smile soon after sighing.

He turned the bathtub's faucet on and warm water began to fill the tub!

 ** _A couple of minutes later..._**

He turned the water off when it reached a certain height that was good enough for Fennekin to be in, then he scooped Fennekin up and gently placed it into the bathtub. He also filled a cup with the same warm water, so that he could re-use it and wash Fennekin. He continuously poured the water over it's head and body. Then he grabbed a soft wash cloth and cleaned Fennekin gently. When he finished getting all the dirt off, he took the Pokémon out and softly dried it using a towel.

"There we go... All done! Now you're nice and clean!" Alex showed a very large happy enthusiastic grin towards the creature in front of him.

Fennekin shook it's head and it pointed it's paw towards a brush on the sink's counter, then it pointed back to it's tail. Her fur was sticking up from her tail, and it was pretty funny to look at! Alex understood what Fennekin was trying to tell him, so he took the brush and gently brushed the fur down. When he finished doing that, The Pokémon had a bright smile on it's face, looking as happy as ever!

"Fen-ne!" Fennekin shouted, wagging her tail rapidly back and fourth.

"Sshh... I know you're happy but try not to be so loud! Otherwise my mother is going to kill me for having you in here... And I wouldn't want that." Alex whispered.

He turned the lights off and picked up Fennekin. He carried it all the way back to his room and said,

"Wow, what a night... I'm tired, you wanna sleep with me tonight Fennekin?" Alex offered.

Fennekin nodded it's head and watched the boy as he made his way towards his soft and comfortable bed. He got under the covers of his bed and laid down underneath the bed sheets. Fennekin laid right next to his right shoulder, and yawned adorably.

That's when Alex began to think to himself,

"This one isn't so bad, but still... That Trainer was pretty mean back there to you. I don't know your evolutions, but I'd be glad to have you as my first Pokémon... You seem, like a really nice and gentle Pokémon, who would wanna ditch something like you?"

Fennekin started to snore, falling asleep almost instantly, and Alex found it cute, just by watching her sleep peacefully.

"Well, goodnight Fennekin." Alex whispered quietly to the Pokémon's ear.

He fell asleep himself, hoping that everything would be okay tomorrow in the morning if his mother were to find out he had a Pokémon in his room.

 ** _One morning later..._**

Fennekin woke up slowly and yawned quietly, It looked over to Alex who was still sleeping. The Fire Type stretched it's body and tried to wake itself up quickly. After doing that, it looked all around the room for an exit, that's when it spotted the window next to Alex's bed. It pushed the window open a bit so that it could fit through the tiny crack easily. but before making an escape, the fox looked back at Alex again...

"Fenne... Fennekin..." Fennekin sighed, reverting her eyes to the ground sadly.

It jumped through the window and landed on the soft grass gently, looking around it's surroundings on the outside. There were so many people around all over the place. The sidewalks were filled with a couple people passing by here and there, taxis and cars drove by on the streets, the whole city was practically loud all the time during the day, and quiet at night... Fennekin rolled it's eyes and groaned in annoyance. It was trying to make its way back to Professor Sycamore's lab, where it originally was born. That was the last place she remembered at least... It was the place of where she came from in the first place. Fennekin looked around and instantly spotted Professor Sycamore talking to a young Trainer right in front of Alex's house. The young Trainer was wearing a bright sunset orange buttoned front T-shirt, black colored cargo jeans, and orange colored running gym shoes.

Fennekin quickly ran towards him and shouted out,

"FENNEKIN!"

Sycamore heard where the shout came from and turned around noticing Fennekin running up to him. Upon seeing the fox Pokémon, he had a big welcoming smile on his face!

"Fennekin? Is that really you?" Sycamore asked in disbelief.

"Kin!" Fennekin answered, nodding as it reached the Professor.

Sycamore proceeded to pick Fennekin up, rubbing her head gently!

"Aren't you suppose to be with your Trainer?" Sycamore questioned it, wondering why she was out here on the streets of Kalos.

Fennekin shook it's head so that he could understand the answer, then it tried to explain what happened to it. It first looked back over to the house that Alex was in, then pointed it's paw towards the front door. Sycamore instantly understood what Fennekin was trying to tell him!

"So... You want me to knock on that door?" Sycamore asked, just to be sure.

Fennekin nodded and he smiled at it, turning back around to face the Trainer he was talking to and told him,

"Sorry Sam, we'll talk next time alright? But congratulations on getting your first Gym Badge, keep up the good work!"

"Thanks Professor! I'm gonna try to explore Lumiose City for a while! See you later!" Sam waved goodbye while running away excitedly.

Both Sycamore, and Fennekin went towards the house and he knocked on the door right after, hoping that he wouldn't disturb them in any way.

 _ **Back to Alex...**_

Alex was still sleeping, his mother was downstairs cooking breakfast for him, but little did he know was that his dreams of becoming a Trainer were about to come true! He woke up slowly from the sun shining in his face, he thought that he was dreaming from yesterday about finding Fennekin outside like that. Cold, abandoned, and forgotten from a very mean person...

"I knew it was a dream..." Alex muttered as he woke up instantly and looked right next to him, only to discover that Fennekin wasn't there...

"Yep, it was a dream." He sighed, feeling upset about his dream being fake.

He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, changed into his normal clothes. He always wore a bright blue shirt, dark navy blue shorts, and black gym shoes. When he finished changing, he went downstairs to greet his mother.

"Hey mom, sorry about yesterday..." Alex apologized, feeling bad about yelling at her from yesterday.

"It's alright Alex... There is someone here though that wants to talk to you in the living room." His mother replied back, not even looking at him.

"Who wants to see me?" Alex questioned her.

"You'll find out soon, once you get to the living room." His mother answered.

When Alex came into the living room, he was both shocked and surprised to see Professor Sycamore sitting on the couch along with Fennekin beside him.

"Fennekin?" Alex certaintly didn't expect to see Fennekin there too.

"Kin!" Fennekin greeted Alex joyfully.

"And Professor Sycamore?" Alex shouted out loud!

 ** _Play Song: Professor Sycamore's Theme - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=YhfrTlFhDA4)_**

"The one and only heh-heh." Sycamore chuckled at the boy's shout.

"What are you doing here?" Alex wondered why he was in his house.

"I found Fennekin alone in front of your house, so I was just going to ask you a quick little question... Why was Fennekin alone in the first place? And why is she here, and not with her Trainer?" Sycamore asked, giving him a serious looking face all of a sudden.

After hearing that, Alex took a huge gulp, and proceeded to explain the whole story to the Professor,

"I woke up late last night and I heard yelling coming from outside of my window. I took a look and I heard a Trainer yelling that Fennekin was useless to him, so I went outside and took care of Fennekin for a bit, just to make sure that Fennekin was okay... It looked pretty lonely out there, so I couldn't resist just leaving it outside in the dark, cold and alone!"

"She, you mean... And that explains everything now." Sycamore corrected him on Fennekin's gender.

"Yeah... She was alone and I felt bad for her, so I let her sleep with me last night, and I also cleaned her up by giving her a bath." Alex continued on with his explanation.

"Well, you did good! And you're a Trainer right?" Sycamore exclaimed, happy to hear that Fennekin was okay.

"No... I'm not, my mom says I shouldn't become one because she worries too much about me." Alex sighed, disappointed with her again.

Sycamore got up from the couch and went straight into the kitchen, approaching his mother slowly. Alex didn't want to eavesdrop on the conversation they were having, but it went for a long while... That's when he decided to lay down on one of the couches, closing his eyes so that he could rest for a bit, but he felt something on top of him and he opened his eyes slowly, only to find Fennekin, who was laying down on his stomach! He gently petted Fennekin's head and her tail, then after that, he scratched behind her soft warm ears! An idea popped up in his head, and he grinned evilly. He flipped Fennekin over so that she was on her backside. Then he gently rubbed her small belly with his two fingers.

"N-Nekin! Fen-na!" Fennekin giggled cutely, looking very innocent like a newborn baby.

She always loved getting affection from Trainers, her last Trainer never did that to her for some apparent reason... Alex decided to mess around with her, so he started tickling her belly instead of just rubbing it slowly. When the tickling sensation hit her, Fennekin tried to hold it in, but it was no use! She eventually started giggling and laughing like a maniac, acting really adorably. Upon seeing her smile, Alex started to love it! Something about it made him happy for some reason, and he stopped when Fennekin rolled over and looked up at him smiling wide while wagging her tail rapidly fast! Next, he tickled her nose and that made her sneeze instantly! Little embers of fire came out of Fennekin's ears, and she blushed shortly after doing that, feeling embarrassed in front of Alex. When she stopped blushing, she and Alex laughed some more and played together! They played all sorts of games with each other, having a great time! Tag, Hide and Seek, heck... You name it!

"Looks like you two are having fun." Sycamore watched the two beings playing tag.

"*pant* *pant* Yeah... She's hyper! She's got a lot of energy for a Pokémon!" Alex tried to catch his words, breathing heavily from running around the living room just chasing Fennekin around.

"I convinced your mother to allow you to become a Pokémon Trainer." Sycamore chuckled to himself.

"YOU DID? You're joking right?" Alex gasped excitedly.

Alex's heart was ready to explode in excitement! Was he dreaming? Or was this actually real?

"Quite the opposite, your mom is very hard to convince... But I managed to do it." Sycamore laughed some more at the boy.

Alex couldn't contain the feeling inside of him, he shouted out,

"ALRIGHT! I FINALLY GET TO BE A TRAINER!"

"Heh, hah! Here... Come with me really quick to my lab so you can get started!" Sycamore kept on laughing at his reaction!

They left the house and went right outside, and Alex couldn't wait to start his journey! He thought about all the gyms he'd want to win at, meeting people, making friends, bonding with Pokémon, and becoming champion of Kalos! But like they always say, it's a long road to become the Champion of a region!

 ** _A few moments later..._**

 _ **Play Song: (The Sycamore Pokémon Lab - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=Out1Sg86eAo)**_

They eventually made it to his lab after a while of walking through the streets! Sycamore went upstairs and told Alex to wait for him until he got back! Alex looked around the place, it looked really nice on the inside compared from the outside. The carpets were clean, there were pictures of Pokémon everywhere, and some artifacts as well, it looked like a Museum! After a couple of minutes later, Alex noticed that Fennekin wasn't with him so he looked around to see where she was, and noticed a Froakie, a Chespin, AND a Fennekin walking towards him from a long dark hallway on the left-side of the room. The Chespin and Froakie looked happy, but Fennekin had a serious expression on her face. Sycamore came down with some stuff in his hands and walked up to Alex holding them out to him.

"Here you go, this is all you need to become a Pokémon Trainer." Sycamore spoke to him.

Alex took all of the things Sycamore provided and asked,

"What do they do?"

"Well... I gave you a Pokédex so you can show me all the kinds of Pokémon you see on your journey, Pokéballs so you can catch Pokémon, and a bag to carry some extra stuff that you find along your journey!" Sycamore explained what all of the items did.

"Gee, thanks a lot Professor!" Alex thanked him, putting the bag around his back, and putting the Pokéballs and the Pokédex away into the bag's pockets.

"No problem, I can't wait to see what Pokémon you'll meet! Now, comes the hardest part of every Trainer's journey in the beginning... Picking your starter Pokémon!" Sycamore continued on.

Alex looked at all three of the Pokémon sitting in front of him, and thought about it for a long while. He pulled out his Pokédex and wanted to read more info about all three of them, starting off by scanning Chespin first!

"Chespin, the Grass Type Pokémon. Chespin has a tough shell covering its head and back. Despite having a curious nature that tends to get it into trouble, Chespin keeps an optimistic outlook and doesn't worry about small details." The Pokédex's voice spoke back to Alex.

"Chespin Ches!" Chespin stood proud in a stance so that he could make himself look better than the other two beside him.

Alex moved onto Froakie next,

"Froakie, the Water Type Pokémon. Froakie is both light and strong, making it capable of jumping incredibly high. The bubbles on its chest and back protect it from attacks. Froakie may appear absentminded, but in truth it pays close attention to its surroundings at all times, being alert most of the time."

"Froakie Froak!" Froakie gave a cool smirk towards Alex.

Last but not least, Fennekin.

"Fennekin, the Fire Type Pokémon. Fennekin can be temperamental, but it tries to do its best for its Trainer. Searing heat blows from its ears. This Pokémon loves to snack on twigs, which gives it energy right before a battle."

Alex noticed Fennekin chewing on a small twig in her mouth, staring up at him intensely.

"Interesting..." Alex thought.

"So, have you've decided who's going to be your partner? A partner that will accompany you the whole way throughout your journey!" Sycamore wondered who Alex was going to choose.

Alex looked at all three Pokémon, but had a hard time trying to choose one. He liked all three of them a lot, but suddenly he remembered Fennekin soon after staring back to her. Fennekin stared directly into his eyes, she had a serious face and was silent the whole time, it was as if she was ready to hunt a prey on sight! Chespin showed Alex the spikes on his head, while Froakie showed Alex the bubbles on his body.

Alex thought about it for a long while... Thinking in his head,

"How am I going to choose? I can only pick one, and I kinda want all three of them at the same time..."

Alex looked back over at Fennekin again, who had a sad expression on her face now! She pointed towards him and then back to herself with her own paw, looking depressed. He immediately understood what she was trying to tell him, she wanted to go with him on his journey so badly! And he could easily tell just by her facial expressions and her actions as well!

"Alright... I choose... Fennekin!" Alex answered the Professor, feeling happy about his choice.

Alex bent down to greet Fennekin by saying,

"Hello again Fennekin! Partners?"

He held out his arms for her to grab on, and that made a huge smile form on her face, she was happy! Alex couldn't help but smile at her facial expression, The Fire Type fox jumped into his arms and licked his face a couple of times before hugging him tightly. He laughed at the affection she gave, and he held her close into his arms, standing back up to talk to the Professor again.

"Okay Alex, I think you can handle it from here! Your journey begins, oh and also! Be sure to tell your mother before you go anywhere, we can't have her getting angry at you if you just sneak off like this." Sycamore reminded him.

"Right, I'll see you later Professor!" Alex shouted while running towards the front doors of the lab.

Sycamore waved Alex goodbye, while he watched him reaching the doors, and exiting the lab.

 ** _Play Song: (Kalos Region Theme (Welcome to the World of Pokémon!) - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=7Zb-s3XCPUY)_**

As soon as Alex made it outside, he inhaled and exhaled the fresh new spring air coming from the trees! He felt like crying because of how long he's been waiting for this day! But he held the tears in anyway, he just focused on getting back home to tell his mother about the journey he was about to go on!

"Fenne! Fennekin!" Fennekin looked up at her new Trainer and grinned at him.

"Yep that's right girl, we're gonna take on every gym! You and me, together all the way! We're going to have so much fun together, I can already feel it!" Alex cheered, looking as happy as a human could possibly be.

He immediately ran into the direction that he came from his house, passing lots of people on the sidewalk. Some of the people he was passing thought he was running because of an emergency, while others just thought he was excited to start a long adventurous journey!

 ** _A few moments later..._**

Alex finally made it to his house! He had a small feeling inside of him, where he felt as if this was going to go horribly wrong... He opened the door and shouted out,

"Hey Mom, I'm back! And I have something to tell you!"

His mother was laying on the couch in the living room and got up to greet him saying,

"Hi Alex, what did you need?"

"Mom, I've officially became a Pokémon Trainer today! I came back so I could tell you... Are you okay with it? I'll be safe I promise you." Alex told her.

His mother sighed sadly, after a short silence of not talking, she spoke to him softly by saying,

"It's alright with me... Go for your dreams aright? I won't stop you this time, but you better not come home missing anything from your body!"

Fennekin rolled her eyes at the woman, while Alex crossed his heart and replied,

"You have my word, I'm not gonna get hurt trust me... I got Fennekin with me the whole way! She'll protect me! And don't worry about me trying to find food or anything! She'll cook food for me!"

He laughed soon after saying that, while showing Fennekin out to his mother.

"Awwh! She's a real cutie up close! And good, I'm sure you'll be fine with food." His mother complimented Fennekin.

She rubbed her head gently, and then tickled her nose with her finger. Fennekin sniffed and then sneezed out loud, while tiny fires came blowing out from her ears. She blushed, feeling humiliated in front of Alex, and Alex's mother found her even more adorable than she already was!

"Yeah, I'm all set to go. I'll be sure to visit every once in a while when I get the chance to!" Alex reminded her.

He hugged his mom tightly before letting go of her, and then made his way back towards the front door.

His mother stopped him and said,

"Here, I think you'll need this! You don't wanna go exploring Kalos without this!"

She held out a small box towards him, and Alex took it from her. He examined it for a while and didn't know what it was, so he asked in confusion,

"What is this thing?"

"It's a map of Kalos, I figured you might need it if you're going to explore the entire region!" His mother answered back, explaining what it was.

He put it into his bag and hugged her once more. This time the hug lasted longer than the last, eventually he let go of her, and made his way out through the doorway. His mother waved goodbye to him and he did the same gesture right back to her!

He closed the door before saying,

"Love you mom!"

He turned around and looked up towards the clear beautiful ocean blue sky, pulling out his map and taking a quick look at it! He showed Fennekin the map and told her,

"Looks like our first gym is located at Santalune City! Let's go Fennekin!"

He set Fennekin down on the ground next to him from his shoulder, and started following the street that he was suppose to follow to get to Santalune City! Fennekin turned a little pale the minute she heard that name... Santalune City... She remembered her previous Trainer before Alex, and started to shake a bit while walking with her new Trainer, as they traveled down the sidewalk together.


	2. Ch 2, A New Friend!

**_Ch. 2, A New Friend!_**

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

 ** _Play song!: (Lumiose City - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=x60KfmRIpbc)_**

Alex was walking down the sidewalk along with Fennekin. He was making his way towards Santalune City so he could get his first Gym Badge! His partner and Fire Type fox was still shaking and she tried her best to hide it from her him. Alex looked down at his new partner and noticed Fennekin shaking in fear. He stopped walking and bent down to pick her up. She refused to look at him though, closing her eyes in fear.

"Hey, Fennekin? You alright?" Alex asked, starting to get worried.

Fennekin didn't nod or shake her head back. She continued to look away, refusing eye contact.

Seeing her actions, only made it worse for Alex to feel...

"What's wrong? I know something's wrong. I'm pretty sure I just saw you shaking a bit! If something's wrong, you have to tell me. There's no need to hide it," Alex asked the same question again, trying to get it out of her.

Fennekin looked back at him and shook her head in response to his question, then she stopped shaking and tried to calm herself down, so that she wouldn't look like something was wrong.

"Are you sure? I can-" Alex started to speak to his Pokémon again, but she had already cut his words off.

She put her paw on his mouth and then pointed to the map in his hand. Alex looked back at the map, then he looked up ahead. There was a sign that read,

"Route 4 ahead."

"Alright Fennekin, I'm just making sure okay? I don't want you to feel upset or anything... We're partners now, and I DO care about you you know." Alex told her.

He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and thought that that would make her feel more comfortable around him. Upon contact, Fennekin's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked back at her Trainer, feeling shocked about the gesture. She blushed really hard and for some... A huge smile started to form on her mouth.

"She must've liked it! At least she's smiling and that's much more important to me." Alex thought.

He kept on walking until he reached the sign. He had no idea where he was going from this point. He couldn't really read maps very well, and he always got lost whenever he traveled around Lumios City during his free time. Everything in the city looked the same, every building was alike, there were lots of people everywhere, cars everywhere, and there were even kids playing with each other everywhere, along with their Pokémon.

"Hm... Must be nice to have a Pokémon to play with when you're still a kid... Fennekin is actually my first real Pokémon that I can interact with... But I guess it's never too late to start a journey huh?" Alex mumbled to himself.

He looked back at his map and then looked back at the sign. It had an arrow pointing to his right and it read,

"Santalune City past Route 4."

Alex put away his map back into his bag and looked over to his right. There was a gate door with a huge number "4" above it.

"That must be Route 4! You ready to go outside and leave Lumiose City girl?" Alex asked his partner.

"Kin!" Fennekin responded back cheerfully, wagging her tail.

"Alright let's go!" Alex exclaimed happily.

He started walking towards the huge gate and went inside of the small building. There wasn't much inside the gate though to look at... There were only a small handful of people inside. It was like a lobby basically... There was a lady behind a desk, chairs to sit in, as well as a couple of tables, and on the other side of the room, there was an open exit doorway, that led to Route 4! Alex's heart started pounding again, he was really excited to finally experience what it was like outside of the city! He walked to the other side of the city gate and then exited the building soon after.

 _ **Play song!: (Route 4 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=YygRV5AwEGg&t=631s)**_

He made it out, and he sure was surprised with the view! He could see Santalune City from far away. There was a large pathway down the road in his way, flowers were blooming everywhere around him, and there were even small garden mazes too. He saw some people ahead, they must've been Trainers who were looking for a battle!

"Fennekin, I think we might have our first battle soon together, so I just wanna check your moves really quick!" Alex whispered to Fennekin.

He pulled out his Pokédex and scanned Fennekin with it. He examined her moves and then nodded his head saying,

"Oh alright, looks like you only know three moves right now. Ember, Scratch, and Tail Whip."

Fennekin nodded her head, shaking her tail in the process, still smiling widely at Alex. He began walking down the pathway, but before he could even look around just to try and get a better view of Santalune City, he was interrupted by a shout coming from behind,

"Wait!"

He turned around and saw a kid running up to him. He was wearing a dark red sweater, dark blackish red shorts, and dark cherry colored shoes. The kid looked tired based on his heavy breathing, he must've ran to catch up to Alex. He looked like he was about thirteen years old.

"Um? What's up?" Alex asked, curious to see what the fellow Trainer wanted from him.

"I wanted to... *pant* Sorry... I've been running here just to catch up to you! I saw you on the street with your Fennekin, and I wanted to battle you!" The kid answered his question.

"Okay, let's battle then!" Alex shouted happily, looking forward to his very first battle!

Alex was pumped up now, he was feeling pretty confident that he was going to win this with Fennekin!

"Ready Fennekin?" Alex whispered to his partner.

"Kin!" Fennekin nodded her head.

She jumped from his arms and stood in a battle stance in front of him, looking ready to go and fight!

"Only one Pokémon each, I got two but I'll only use one. If your Pokémon is unable to battle then you lose, alright?" The kid announced the rules of the battle.

Alex nodded his head in agreement. Fennekin looked directly into Alex's eyes giving him the signal of a quick and adorable wink. Alex understood and couldn't help but smile at her interaction, then he nodded right back to her.

"What's your name anyway?" Alex asked yet another question.

"It's James! Pleased to meet you! Now come on out buddy! It's time to shine!" James shouted out loud.

He threw a Pokéball into the air and a beam of light came out of it. The light started forming into a figure, and it looked like a small Pokémon coming out! Once the light faded away, the figure revealed a Treecko!

"Huh? What's that Pokémon?" Alex thought to himself, curious about the small gecko Grass Type in front of him.

He pulled out his Pokédex again and aimed it at Jame's Treecko, wanting to know about the Pokémon.

"Treecko, the Grass type Pokémon. Treecko has small hooks on the bottom of its feet that enable it to scale vertical walls. This Pokémon attacks by slamming foes with its thick tail, causing a bit of damage to its opponent."

"Hm... Interesting." Alex muttered, as he watched Treecko wagging it's tail back and fourth, just like Fennekin usually did.

He bent down and whispered into Fennekin's ear telling her,

"Alright girl, we're gonna take this battle nice and slow, we have the advantage! When he attacks with his tail, I have an idea! Maybe it'll work... But it's still worth a shot!"

"Fenne!" Fennekin nodded, growling at her opponent viciously.

"You ready yet?" James called out.

"Yeah!" Alex yelled back.

"Okay! Let the battle begin!" James announced excitedly!

 ** _James Vs. Alex!_**

"Treecko! Use Leer!" James commanded.

Treecko's finger lit up a bright white light and he pointed it towards Fennekin. Alex waited for something to happen, but nothing ever came... It confused him, not knowing what that move did...

"What was the point of that move?" Alex asked, still confused about it.

"It loweres Fennekin's defense... Treecko lets go! Use Pound!" James replied back, suddenly bursting out another command.

Treecko suddenly jumped up really high up and flew towards Fennekin, doing a couple of flips in the air at the same time. Once he finished doing summersaults in mid air, he came at Fennekin with great speed. As soon as Treecko was about to hit Fennekin with his tail, Alex shouted out,

"Fennekin dodge it and use Ember!"

Fennekin immediately jumped to the side the moment Treecko landed on the ground with his tail. The shockwave from colliding with the ground really hard, made Treecko freeze in pain! His tail was very sensitive, and he couldn't move at all, other than to just sit there in pain!

"What!?" James screamed, surprised, not even expecting that to happen to his Pokémon!

"Fenne... KIN!" Fennekin yelled out loud.

She spat out a small fireball towards Treecko and it hit him directly on his back! When the fiery projectile hit, he flew away from the impact and landed into a concrete wall just next to them!

"Treecko noo!" James cried out, suddenly worried about Treecko.

He ran towards his Pokémon and looked at him, examining his back. There was a small burn on his backside, leaving him fainted easily from the attack, AND the collision with the wall... James sighed and then picked up his Treecko carefully from the ground, being careful not to hurt him in any way.

 ** _Alex wins!_**

"We did it! We won our first battle Fennekin!" Alex celebrated his first victory!

He celebrated by giving Fennekin a quick high five, while she jumped up high to smackehis hand with her paw. Alex caught her before she would hit the ground again, and then looked directly into her sunset orange colored eyes!

"Fennekin!" Fennekin blushed and licked him on his face happily.

When they finished celebrating, Alex turned around to look for James, and made his way towards him.

"Is your Treecko going to be alright?" Alex asked James just to make sure his Pokémon wasn't seriously hurt.

"Yeah he'll be fine, just need to heal him at a Pokémon Center. Do you know where one is around here?" James replied, not knowing at all...

"I'm on my way to Santalune City, I'm pretty sure there's a Pokémon Center located there. Do you wanna accompany me on my way there?" Alex offered.

"Sure, I might as well right? That was a quick battle though! I didn't know Treecko would get stunned like that, after your Fennekin dodged his attack." James replied, amazed by Alex's strategy.

"Yeah, it was a quick one alright... I might take on the Santalune Gym Leader so I can get my first badge, that was my first battle though, so I don't really know if Fennekin did good or not!" Alex exclaimed

The moment when he said the word "Gym", Fennekin started shaking a bit again in fear. She tried to calm herself down, but James had already caught on to her. He ignored it and focused his mind onto something else.

"No! You did really good for a first battle, you certainly impressed me with that quick dodge! So um... You wanna start heading out? The city is just up ahead." James pointed behind Alex.

"Yeah let's go." Alex agreed, smiling from the compliment about his Fennekin.

Both of them started walking down Route 4 again. The city was just in sight as they traveled further and further down the path.

"So how old are you anyways?" Alex questioned him.

"I'm thirteen, what about you?" James asked back.

"I'm fourteen." Alex replied, he was surprised to guess his age exactly!

"What about Fennekin? When did you start your journey?" James wondered more about him.

"Just started it today, I found Fennekin last night abandoned by another Trainer.. Right outside of my house. I took her in and washed her up, as well as letting her sleep with me, What about you?" Alex answered back in a serious tone, showing James a sad face.

"Dang, really? That seems like a terrible person to just abandon a Pokémon like that, sorry Fennekin... I started last week, I just moved here from Hoenn today. I picked Treecko from Hoenn and my other Pokémon was given to me by my uncle." James immediately felt bad for Fennekin based on the story he was quickly told.

"Fenna..." Fennekin shook her head and looked at the ground next, frowning slightly.

"That sounds pretty nice! Moving from a different region and all can be tough, but you make new friends you know?" Alex exclaimed happily, cheering up the mood.

"Heh... Yeah I know, you're my first friend in this region." James laughed at what he said.

Both of them laughed with each other, enjoying the company that they had. Fennekin and Treecko were being a little bit shy though, they didn't speak to each other or look at one another while they walked together. That's when Alex didn't see where he was going, he wasn't paying attention, and he tripped over a small rock underneath him. Him falling, resulted in Fennekin flying out of his arms and landing into a fountain right in front of them! After realizing what had just happened to him, Alex got up quickly and looked around for Fennekin. He heard a splash of water behind him and turned around. He saw Fennekin underwater trying to swim up. He helped her out by lifting her up out of the fountain and setting her down onto the ground next to him. She was soaking wet, with water all over her fur, she shivered a little from the cold fountain water, and she even gave a killer look at Alex, ready to pounce him, she growled angrily at him!

"Oh boy... She doesn't sound too happy!" Alex muttered to himself nervously, backing away a bit from his partner.

"FENNEKIIIIN!" The fire fox jumped towards Alex and hit him right across his face with her small paw, leaving a small mark on one of his cheeks.

"AHH! H-Hey! Wait! I know you don't like water... But I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you Fennekin!" Alex told her, rubbing his cheek gently.

He looked around and spotted a nearby bush. He quickly ran to it, pulling out a small twig off of a branch and ran back to Fennekin, bending down to her.

"Here!" Alex held it out for her to take, and she tilted her head, raising her eyebrows.

"Nek!" Fennekin opened her mouth and pointed her paw directly into it.

Alex understood what she was trying to tell him what to do, so he put the twig onto her small tongue, and watched as she closed her mouth and started biting down on the twig. She happily chewed on the small twig, forgiving him, and smiling back at him, wagging her tail back and forth from the tasty snack!

"Great at least that made things better... You're soaking wet now though..." Alex sighed in defeat, feeling stupid of dropping her into the fountain.

James laughed at what he just witnessed in front of him, it was definitely something that was entertaining to watch!

"Don't worry, I'm sure if we get to the Pokémon Center they'll dry her up for you." James announced, still chuckling silently at Alex.

"It's not funny..." Alex shot a death glare back at him.

"Yes it was!" James grinned.

"Let's just leave... Come on Fennekin, let's go to Santalune City so we can challenge the Gym Leader!" Alex sighed yet again, before walking away back to the fountain.

Fennekin's face went from smiling to having no emotion instantly... She groaned in annoyance, and then jumped back into the fountain, to swim in it for a little while.

"Fennekin come on, we gotta go!" Alex told her once again, getting a little annoyed by her stopping.

Fennekin opened her mouth and water went into it. After it sat in her mouth for a couple of seconds, She spat it back out and nearly hit Alex directly on his head. The water didn't hit him though, and he just stood there giving her an annoyed look.

"Fennekin please..." Alex pleaded her to come out and listen to him.

Fennekin sighed, getting out of the fountain. She walked up next to Alex and followed him when he started walking with James again. After seeing her reactions to Alex, James examined Fennekin for a while and began to notice something strange about her, he ignored it, shrugging his shoulders, and continued on walking to their next City.

 ** _A couple of minutes later..._**

 ** _Play Song!: (Santalune City - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=qsDMr5w_D3Q&t=1243s)_**

Both Alex and James eventually finished the route, spotting the city's entrance! Alex ran straight into the city and James followed after him, both of them feeling very excited and happy that they finally made it to their destination!

"We made it! Santalune City!" Alex cheered joyfully.

"Yeah! Before you challenge the gym, let's get some rest first though, you don't wanna go straight away." James pointed towards the sky, giggling.

It was already almost sunset, and the gym was probably closed by this time... Alex never noticed that the time went by so quickly, feeling disappointed, he wanted to challenge the gym right away!

"But I wanna challenge the gym right away and get my badge already!" Alex complained like a little kid.

"Calm down, you can challenge it tomorrow morning you know. It's not the end of the world... Besides I gotta heal Treecko first. The Pokémon Center is just up ahead, we can also sleep there too for the night!" James explained, trying to calm his new friend down.

"Ugh! Alright fine, we'll sleep there for the night. Wait! Can we even sleep there?" Alex asked just to be sure.

"I just said we could... They have private rooms that you can rent for free, that's why Nurse Joy is awesome!" James continued on talking.

"Oh okay, well let's get there right away so we can an early sleep! Fennekin and I are going to need all the energy we can get, so we can get our first Gym Badge!" Alex shouted loudly.

Fennekin rolled her eyes once again... She gave her Trainer a killer look in a matter of seconds, but then she saw James staring at her again. Upon seeing that, she smiled brightly and wagged her tail.

"Why does she keep on doing that? Does Fennekin dislike Alex, or is she upset about something with him?" James wondered about her actions.

Both Alex and James started walking past the city's gate, heading more into the city! The place wasn't as big as Lumiose City was though, It was quite small and there were only a couple of buildings surrounding the area. Alex eventually spotted the Pokémon Center and ran to it. James followed him and kept up with his speed, getting a little tired from the running. When they arrived at the sliding doors, they went inside the building and looked around the place!

"Hello and welcome to the Pokémon Center! Would you like me to heal your Pokémon?" Nurse Joy smiled at the two boys coming up to her.

She seemed like a very nice lady, you could easily tell that she was a very positive and happy person! Both Alex and James smiled back and answered politely by replying,

"Yes please!"

They made it to the desk, giving her Treecko and Fennekin soon after.

"Okay, I'll heal them right away!" Nurse Joy gladly picked them up gently, and carried them to a room behind her.

A couple of minutes passing by later...

"Alright all done! Your Pokémon have been fully healed." Nurse Joy announced happily.

She gave the two Trainers back their Pokémon happily.

"Thank you so much! Do you think we can stay here for the night?" Alex asked politely.

"Sure, here's a key to your room. Make sure to lock the door though, so that nobody takes any of your belongings." Nurse Joy explained, holding out a set of room keys.

Alex took the key from her and thanked her once again. He and James walked down the long hallway to their right, and looked around for their room. They eventually found the room and went inside! Once they got into the room, they turned on the lights and it looked really nice on the inside! It was like living in a 5-Star Hotel. There were two beds that were king sized, they had a nice looking bathroom, and a nice window view of the center of the city too! They took off their shoes and put their bags down by the door. Alex locked the door with the room key so that nobody would disturb them in anyway.

"Nice! This room looks really comfortable to spend the night in! I can't wait to sleep in that bed tonight!" James exclaimed, excited for bed later on.

He jumped onto the bed and laid on it. It was really comfortable and he told Alex,

"Alex you need to sleep in your bed, it's... So comfortable! Isn't it Treecko?"

"Tree!" Treecko agreed, he was on the bed too, enjoying himself!

"Yeah give me a minute, I gotta brush Fennekin first. She would kill me if I forgot to do that... She loves it apparently." Alex replied back, taking out the same brush that he took from his house.

"Fen!" Fennekin shouted at her Trainer, walking up to Alex, to nuzzle his leg with her head.

Once he felt her contacting him, he picked up Fennekin and carried her to the bathroom. The bathroom looked really nice as well, just like a fancy one would look like in a rich mansion! He sat Fennekin down on his lap and noticed the furs sticking up all over her body... It was probably sticking up because Nurse Joy had dried her up! It was a good thing that he didn't have to dry her up himself, otherwise she would look like a puffy fur ball. He began brushing her fur down with his brush, and she really enjoyed the feeling! Alex smiled as he noticed her sitting peacefully, feeling happy about it!

"Fennekin, I can't wait to challenge the gym tomorrow! Are you ready for it?" Alex asked his partner, feeling enthusiastic about tomorrow.

Fennekin didn't respond back though, she just sat there minding her own business... It was as if she was ignoring him the whole day whenever he said the word 'gym'

"Fenny? You alright?" Alex questioned her one more time, starting to get concerned about his partner.

Fennekin groaned and jumped from Alex's lap. She walked out of the bathroom and jumped onto Alex's bed laying there. Someone definitely was being sassy... and Alex frowned at the tiles below, feeling bad for his Pokémon. James heard and saw what happened from the door, so he went to Alex and wanted to know what was going on between them, speaking out by saying,

"I've been studying Fennekin's mood lately ever since we've met, and she's been acting kind of weird. Mostly when you say the word 'gym'. You should talk to her about it, because I think she's upset about something..."

"Are you sure I should talk to her about it? I've been noticing it too, and she's been really happy whenever I didn't mention the gym battle about tomorrow..." Alex asked back.

"Yes I'm sure, go talk to her and make sure she's alright." James answered, patting him on the back lightly.

"Okay I'll go talk to her then..." Alex sighed nervously, hoping that nothing was seriously wrong with Fennekin.

He got up and made his way back into the main room, spotting Fennekin laying on the bed, resting by herself peacefully. He eventually walked his way to the bed, and sat down on it right beside her.

"Hey girl, you ready for tomorrow? We're going to get our first gym badge together, aren't you excited for it!" Alex asked her, just to see if she would get upset at him again.

He rubbed her head slowly and then tickled her nose shortly after, thinking that would make her feel happy, but she ignored him and turned away, facing the other way from his hand.

"Fenne... Fennekin..." Fennekin sighed heavily, rolling her eyes at the same time.

She had a sad look on her face with no emotion, and Alex noticed it when he moved over to have a look at her face. Then he asked her another question one more time,

"Are you alright Fennekin?"

His fox shook her head meaning "No" to his question.

"What's wrong? Tell me... I wanna help you, you've been acting strange today, and it's been going on like this ever since I started mentioning the word 'gym' in any way! You've got to tell me, because I DO really care about you you know." Alex whispered.

Fennekin sighed heavily yet again and then turned around to face her Trainer completely. She jumped off of the bed and went to Alex's bag right next to it, searching through the bag with her own two paws. She opened it and took a Pokéball out... Then, she gave it to Alex and placed it into his hand. Next, she went back to the bag again and took out the map of Kalos. She opened it up all by herself and then looked for "Santalune City". She eventually found it on the map and pointed her paw at the "Pokémon Gym" icon. She pointed back towards the Pokéball in his hand, then Alex, and finally jumped onto the windowsill beside the bed. Alex tried to follow along, but had no idea what Fennekin was trying to tell him. He walked over to the windowsill Fennekin was on, and saw her pointing outside at an empty road with barely anyone in it. Seeing the road immediately gave Alex a quick and solid guess at what the Fire Type was trying to say to him.

"I think I understand it now..." Alex whispered into Fennekin's ear.

She turned around and looked at him straight in the eyes, giving him an intimidating look.

"You don't want me to get angry at you if we lose tomorrow... And... You're worried that I'll abandon you like your previous Trainer did... Is that right?" Alex asked softly, seeing if that was the real reason.

Fennekin nodded her head, she sniffled slightly and started to cry a bit, with a tear forming in her eyes. She looked down and cried even more just by thinking about it... As the tears came streaming down her face, she was embarrassed and humiliated in front of Alex, feeling guilty about crying and acting like a wimp.

Alex smiled though, and lifted her head up by her chin with his fingers gently. He looked at her straight in the eyes again, but she closed them and tried to hide her tears from him... She couldn't do it, as the tears just kept on flowing and flowing on... But she heard Alex's soft voice speaking to her once again,

"Listen, I'll make a promise to you right now... Even if we lose tomorrow, I won't be upset at you! Never in my life, I won't ever give you away or abandon you for a better partner. I'm your Trainer and your best-est friend, and I always will be! No matter what happens from here on out!"

He wiped her tears away with his shirt, and then gave her a very warm welcoming hug. Fennekin gasped in shock, with her eyes widening from the embrace of the hug! She was surprised! Her old Trainer never gave her affection or cheered her up whenever she felt sad... It was definitely something that she's never experienced before, and for some reason... She liked the gesture! Alex was different though from her last Trainer, and she saw a new side to him! She stopped crying and then happily returned the hug, grinning widely and making Alex smile in return!

"So, do you wanna challenge the gym tomorrow? We don't have to if you don't want too... It's all your choice." Alex exclaimed happily.

"Kin!" Fennekin replied back, nodding her head right away.

"So... You want to try and take it on?" Alex asked just to be sure with her response.

"Fenna!" Fennekin kept on nodding, while she licked his cheek.

Alex smiled and he felt good about himself that he was able to have Fennekin trust him now! He turned around and looked back at James who gave him a thumbs up from the bathroom's doorway.

"You didn't let me finish brushing you girl... How about we finish it?" Alex reminded Fennekin, raising his eyebrow.

"FEN!" Fennekin cheered and jumped out of his arms, racing him to the bathroom!

Alex followed his partner, while James came back out of the bathroom in his pajamas!

"I'm gonna go to bed already, so I can wake up early in the morning. You should do the same too! We'll practice tomorrow in the morning, and then take it from there okay?" James suggested.

"Yeah sure, I'll do the same! It might take a while with Fennekin, so I guess I'll see you in the morning... Goodnight!" Alex agreed.

"Night, see you in the morning." James replied back, getting into his bed's covers slowly.

He went off to bed, while Alex was grooming Fennekin back in the bathroom!

 ** _An hour later..._**

It took Alex a while since Fennekin wanted to be super clean, being her usual self... Once Alex finally finished, he was completely exhausted from all of the brushing he had to do to her... Fennekin acted a bit bratty about her fur, when one tiny strand of fur was sticking up, she'd give Alex a hard time, and would make him do it all over again! He always groaned heavily and felt annoyed whenever he missed a small spot that wasn't even noticable! But... She thanked him by giving him a short hug, before running off to his bed... She jumped onto it and got under the covers, taking the center of the bed, as well as the pillows too! Alex took a quick shower and changed into his pajamas as well. When he got out of the bathroom, he spotted Fennekin sleeping peacefully at the center of the bed, sound asleep!

"She must've thought that bed was only for her... Ugh... What am I going to do with you Fennekin!" Alex sighed, before chuckling at the way she slept.

He gently pushed her aside so that he could get underneath the bed sheets, AND share the same pillow with her, without waking her up. He managed to do it quietly without making a sound, and looked at Fennekin once more! He smiled at how cute she looked when she was asleep! She wrapped her tail around herself and rested her head on it, as if it were a smaller pillow to lay on!

"Goodnight Fennekin! I hope we both beat the Gym tomorrow!" Alex whispered quietly into her air, hoping she would hear it in her dream!

He closed his eyes and began to fall asleep himself! He had a great day today with Fennekin! They made a new friend, won their first battle together, and heck... They started their journey together! He couldn't wait for tomorrow, and Fennekin couldn't wait for the day either!


	3. Ch 3, Quest For The Bug Badge!

**_Ch. 3, Quest For The Bug Badge!_**

 ** _Translation: (Normal!)_**

 ** _Play Song!: (Santalune City - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=qsDMr5w_D3Q)_**

Alex, James, and Fennekin were all fast asleep! Sleeping in those beds felt like sleeping in a cloud, it was truly amazing! However, today was the day where Alex was going to attempt his first battle to get a Gym Badge! As the sun appeared in the horizon of Santalune City, it lit up the entire room from the outside. Alex woke up shortly after the sunlight started shining in his face. He eventually got tired of the brightness, yawning, and getting out of his bed shortly after. He stretched his arms as well as his back, and went into the bathroom first thing. He brushed his teeth, took a quick shower, changed into his traveling clothes, and looked through the window in the room once he returned back! He spotted the gym from far away across the City, and was really excited for the day ahead of him!

"Today's the day!" Alex thought to himself.

He wanted to wake up his friend, but he decided not to be a jerk, Instead, he sat down and waited a while for them to wake up on their own.

 ** _Thirty minutes later..._**

"Okay I had enough of this... Sorry you two, but... YOU GOTTA WAKE UP!" Alex shouted at them.

"OKAY OKAY I'M UP!" James yelled in terror, startled by his sudden shout and waking up instantly, alarmed!

He quickly jumped out of his bed and ran to the bathroom, ignoring Alex...

Fennekin was startled too, screaming like a maniac. She looked around to see who yelled like that, eventually spotting her Trainer laughing out loud, and that was enough for her to boil in rage!

"Fenne! KIIIIN!" Fennekin screamed angrily.

She growled at him, and she was getting herself ready to fire an Ember on him. Seeing the look on her face was priceless, but it was enough for Alex to shut up right away and stop laughing at her.

"W-Wait! No! Not in here!" Alex panicked, not looking forward to being burned early this morning.

"Nee!" Fennekin ignored him, shooting a small Ember attack towards his face!

"Woah!" Alex leaped out of the way before the attack could hit him, doing a roll, and landing on the carpet pretty hard on his back.

"Ow..." Alex mumbled from the friction burning his back.

He rubbed his back gently, trying to relieve himself of the pain. When he looked back up to Fennekin who was on the bed, she was giggling at him...

"You're in so much trouble..." Alex whispered, shaking his head in the process.

He waited a couple of seconds for James to be ready to go, but he was still in the bathroom. He gave an evil smirk towards the fox, and stood back up, towering over her.

"Fe-Fe!" Fennekin kept on giggling at him.

"Ugh... James you almost ready?" Alex shouted into the bathroom.

"Almost!" James replied back.

After a couple of minutes, James came back out of the bathroom in his normal clothes and grabbed all of his stuff. Alex did the same and carried Fennekin with him. They made sure that the room looked exactly the way it was when they first got there yesterday.

"Alright! Ready to go?" Alex asked, looking at James.

"I'm ready! I'm pretty sure Pokémon Centers have an arena behind them. That would be the perfect place for you to train." James replied, suggesting the arena.

"Perfect! Let's go!" Alex cheered, walking out of their room, and closing the door behind him.

He ran down the hall and felt the excitement in him. James kept up with him and Alex ran out of the lobby making his way outside. Before James left, he gave Nurse Joy the room key back. He eventually went outside and saw Alex looking at the gym from across the city.

"Come on! Follow me Alex." James told him.

Alex nodded his head and walked together with James as they made their way behind the Center.

"Hey I've been waiting to ask you this, but does Fennekin have a Pokéball?" James wondered.

"She didn't come with one when I saw her out in the street with her old Trainer. I guess he must have her Pokéball or something still..." Alex answered back.

"You should put her in a Pokéball. There's some bad people out there called Pokémon Hunters. They hunt down or steal other people's Pokémon even, and sell them for money! If she has a Pokéball, then she can't be stolen or captured, it'd be a lot safer!" James suggested.

"You're right... I SHOULD do that for her." Alex agreed.

He took out a Pokéball from his bag and showed it to Fennekin. However, she pushed it away and refused to touch the button on the middle of the capturing device.

"What's wrong girl?" Alex questioned his partner.

"Fen..." Fennekin sighed.

She pointed her paw at the Pokéball and then looked around the city for a while... Until she finally spotted a Fletching cage sitting on a random building's balcony, and pointed at that next.

"I won't keep you in the Pokéball I promise. I'll let you stay out here, I just don't want you to be stolen from someone else... I can't lose you to a Hunter, if that ever were to happen in the future." Alex mumbled into her ears.

Fennekin looked up at Alex, studying his eyes. She knew that she could trust him now, and saw his good side, so she made up her decison, pushing the button on the center of the Pokéball. A white light instantly surrounded her and she went into the Pokéball. It moved back and fourth in Alex's hand, stopping movement... After the first shake, the Pokéball flashed a bright red light on the button, symbolizing that Fennekin was caught!

"Phew Okay good... At least I don't have to worry about Hunters stealing her from me in the futurre!" Alex thought to himself, happy to know that Fennekin was officially part of his team!

He brought Fennekin right back out and put the Pokéball back into his bag, as the light was shooting out of the ball, it started forming and forming into a figure, until it revealed Fennekin, showing a huge smile on her face!

"See girl! Wasn't so bad right?" Alex asked, kneeling down at her.

"Fen!" Fennekin happily responded back, wagging her tail joyfully.

She jumped onto Alex's arms, and then made her way on top his head.

"That's great! Now you own her!" James grinned at the two smiling at each other.

Alex nodded in agreement, they both finally made it around the building and James was right, there really was an arena for battling behind the Center!

"Alright let's do this James!" Alex clenched his fists, looking ready to fight his friend.

He ran to one side of the arena, while James did the same to the opposite side across from him.

"Just so you know Alex, I had a disadvantage yesterday against your Fennekin... This time I won't lose!" James shouted out, feeling confident about his words.

"That doesn't concern me dude! Even if your other Pokémon is stronger than mine, that won't stop us from trying! Right Fennekin?" Alex yelled back, giving a quick glance at Fennekin.

"Kin!" Fennekin agreed with her Trainer, smirking proudly.

She jumped off of Alex's head and landed on the ground with ease, already looking ready to go! She was in her battle stance, looking very intimidating to James!

"Okay then! Whatever you say Alex... Come on out Squirtle!" James screamed.

He threw a Pokéball into the air and out came a Squirtle! Alex examined the turtle-like Pokémon for a bit, pulling out his Pokédex so that he could check it,

"Squirtle, the Water Type Turtle Pokémon. Squirtle's shell is not merely used for protection. The shell's rounded shape and the grooves on its surface help minimize resistance in water, enabling this Pokémon to swim at high speeds."

"That looks like a pretty cool Pokémon! Anyways... Even if it's a Water type, Fennekin and I won't give up, no matter what!" Alex sounded pretty confident of himself...

"Alright then Alex, this is gonna be a good fight! If either Pokémon are unable to battle then you lose. Are you alright with that?" James asked.

"Yep!" Alex answered.

"Okay! Battle begin!" James announced.

 ** _James Vs. Alex! (Rematch!)_**

 ** _Play Song!: (Battle! Friend - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=5zIMgjDOuew)_**

"Squirtle, I have a strategy to win. So don't attack yet okay?" James whispered to his Squirtle.

"Squirt!" Squirtle agreed.

"I'll let you attack first Alex!" James exclaimed.

"Okay Fennekin, use Tail Whip!" Alex commanded.

Fennekin started running towards Squirtle at great speed. When she finally reached him, she smacked him with her tail as hard as she could. The attack lowered Squirtle's defense a bit.

"Alright good! As long as she can dodge and use Scratch continuously, we can win for sure." Alex thought.

"Squirtle! Tackle let's go!" James shouted.

Squirtle approached Fennekin and jumped at her. Before he could land his attack on her, she jumped out of the way quickly.

"Keep attacking her!" James continued.

Fennekin kept on dodging and jumping out of the way so Squirtle couldn't get to her. He eventually couldn't catch up to her, due to her speedy dodging, so he looked over to his Trainer, hoping that there would be a plan b to this attack! James nodded his head and Squirtle understood what James wanted him to do. He went over to the other side of Fennekin, surprising her from his sudden movements! Now he was in front of her! However, Fennekin knew he would do that, So she jumped and did a flip over Squirtle, looking as cool as ever!

"Use Scratch!" Alex yelled.

Fennekin's paw grew long sharp claws instantly! She was still in mid air, so she let herself fall on top of Squirtle and scratched him across his face, dealing a little bit of damage to the Water Type! After taking the move, Squirtle fell down in pain. He quickly got up though, and turned around to face his opponent, giving her a killer look!

"Squirtle, you okay?" James asked just to be sure his Pokémon wasn't hurt in any way.

"Squirt! Squirtle!" Squirtle replied back, rubbing his head gently with his hand.

"Okay! Now let's try out our strategy." James suggested to him.

Alex was curious to see what they were hiding from him and Fennekin, but he shrugged it off and told Fennekin to use Scratch one more time! Fennekin grew the same long claws again and started running towards Squirtle again at a fast rate! But instead of him dodging, he ran away instead! He ran away into the opposite direction from Fennekin who was still going after him with her attack. He ran to the sides of the arena's boundary walls, smiling evilly to himself. Fennekin eventually got bored of chasing him around real quick, so she started leaping at him instead of just running, and that boosted her speed quite a lot! As soon as Fennekin was about to attack Squirtle, he eventually made it to the wall of the arena, quickly running up the wall, and doing a flip right off of it! He spun in circles and used Water Gun on Fennekin from behind! Fennekin didn't have time to react at what she just saw coming, but she was badly hurt from that move! And you could tell based on the painful expression that was shown on her face.

"Fennekin!" Alex cried out, worried about his partner now.

She tried to get up but had trouble trying to do so!

"Come on Fennekin, don't give up yet! I know you can still battle!" Alex cheered her on, giving her a little bit of hope to push on through the pain!

Fennekin heard her Trainer's voice and finally got up with an angry look on her face now! She opened her mouth and shot a bright pink beam at Squirtle. Squirtle didn't expect the beam to come at him so fast, so he took the hit from the move pretty hard!

"What WAS that?" James asked, curious about what the light was.

"It must be a new move!" Alex spoke in surprise.

He pulled his Pokédex back out and checked Fennekin's moves. Sure enough... Alex was right! Fennekin learned Psybeam!

"Awesome! You learned Psybeam Fennekin!" Alex celebrated.

"Fennekin!" Fennekin cheered, smiling back at Alex with that usual happy grin of hers.

She jumped up and did a quick flip in the air as a celebration. She looked at her Trainer smiling wide shortly after! This was finally James' chance to attack, so he commanded Squirtle by telling him,

"Now Squirtle! Use Water Gun and finish her off!"

"Fen?" Fennekin mumbled.

She turned around and looked at Squirtle who shot water at her up close, point blank away from her face!

"FENNEKIIIN!" Fennekin cried out loud.

She got hit from the projectile and flew away, sliding across on the hard ground, and eventually colliding with the arena walls on the side! Smoke was everywhere because of how hard the impact was with her body against the concrete wall. When the smoke had finally cleared away, Alex ran up to his Pokémon and looked around her to see if she was injured.

"Fennekin? Are you alright." Alex whispered into her ear, feeling very guilty about the pain she was going through.

Fennekin looked up at her Trainer and started to cry... She felt like she disappointed him because she let her guard down, leaving her completely open to Squirtle's attack.

"Fenne... Kin..." Fennekin struggled to speak.

She ignored the pain and quickly got back up into her battle stance. Alex smiled and then turned around to face James now, shaking his head at the same time.

"That was a pretty cheap move you did there James." Alex laughed at him.

"Why're you laughing then?" James asked nervously, scared about what was going to come next.

"Because I KNOW Fennekin, and she can still fight! So let's finish this!" Alex got pumped up even more about the rest of the battle.

"Hmph... Okay Alex! I have to admit it though, your Fennekin is pretty strong to take hits like that. I'm pretty sure you'll win against the Gym Leader!" James complimented his Pokémon.

"Thanks!" Alex appreciated his compliment.

"Squirtle, this time for real... Finish this battle with a Water Gun!" James commanded.

Squirtle immediately shot water towards Fennekin, just like the last! However, Alex had a trick up his sleeve and shouted out,

"Use Psybeam!"

Fennekin opened her mouth and shot a Psybeam out of it! Which flew towards the water very slowly. As the Psybeam and the Water traveled towards one another, Alex quickly said,

"Use Ember and combine it with the Psybeam!"

Fennekin used Ember and combined it with her Psybeam! Combing the two different moves into one larger projectile! It looked really powerful, and it started travelling at a much faster rate than before. James knew what was going on, so he yelled,

"Squirtle keep on firing that Water Gun!"

Squirtle continued to fire his Water Gun at the fiery Psybeam, but it was too powerful to counter the fire on the Psybeam itself! Whenever the water made contact with the combo'd move, the fire wouldn't even go out!

"Finish it off with Scratch! Push the Psybeam even further!" Alex commanded Fennekin once again.

She ran at her Psybeam and used her claws to hit the Psybeam towards Squirtle! After she did that, the fire surrounding the Psybeam, grew even larger flames! And it was traveling very quickly, almost as fast as a speeding bullet!

"Squirtle dodge it!" James shouted, hoping Squirtle could dodge the late move.

But it was already too late... The Psybeam had already struck Squirtle before James could even tell him what to do next...

"BOOM!" A loud explosion sound came from the move!

There was a big explosion, which left a lot of smoke behind, surrounding the entire arena! Both Alex and James gasped at the sight, not expecting the move to be so powerful! Heck, Alex didn't even know what was going on after what he just did. He just kept on spitting out attack after attack, thinking that this would be a good strategy for him to use in future battles! When the smoke finally started clearing away into the atmosphere above them, James ran up to Squirtle and he saw him struggling to even move at all!

"S-Squirtle! Are you o-okay?" James asked his Pokémon, sitting on the ground beside him.

He watched as his Water Type gave up on trying to stand back up... His Squirtle fell even further down, fainting from the attack...

 ** _Alex Wins Again!_**

He picked him up and held him close in his arms gently.

"Squirtle are you alright buddy? I'm sorry I pushed you so hard..." James apologized to him, feeling upset about the outcome of this battle for him and his Pokémon.

Squirtle opened his eyes slowly and looked up into his Trainer's eyes.

"Tle, Uirt..." Squirtle groaned in pain, rubbing his back.

"You were great out there, you know that right?" James whispered softly.

Squirtle nodded his head and then closed his eyes, resting in James's arms peacefully.

"You deserve a nice long rest!" James mumbled.

He took out Squirtle's Pokéball and returned him back into it, giving Squirtle a short rest inside! He put it away and then turned around to see Alex and Fennekin grinning at him.

James sighed and then started the conversation by saying,

"I gotta hand it to yah, that was a really fun battle! If you can combo that move on the Gym Leader, then you will definitely get that badge today!"

"Heh... Thanks man, I thought it wouldn't work, but apparently it did! That was fun though! Good battle James!" Alex laughed with his friend.

Both James and Alex gave each other a high five, then they made their way back around the Pokémon Center. So that they could heal up their Pokémon again.

"Fennekin, you were awesome during that fight!" Alex gave his Fennekin a tight hug.

"Fenne! Fennekin!" Fennekin blushed hard and returned the warm hug with her Trainer.

"Yeah, you were!" James complimented her as well, making her feel good about herself!

They quickly went back inside the Center, healed their Pokémon, and then came right back out again.

"So where's the Gym again?" James wondered.

"It's just up ahead! I can't wait to win my first Badge!" Alex cheered confidently.

"Don't get too confident just yet, wait until you actually WIN first!" James laughed at his sudden confidence.

"I'm pretty sure I'll be fine, only if Fennekin can be tough and dodge the moves as well as land that combo attack as well." Alex smiled at his partner next.

As the two friends passed through the city, they saw a Roselia statue at the center plaza of the city, catching both of their attentions instantly.

"You know... I DO wonder why they have that there..." Alex asked in curiousity.

"I don't know either... Maybe that Pokémon is significant to the city or something?" James questioned the statue's appearance as well.

Alex decided to ignore it and shrugged it off of his shoulders... It was probably just a decoration for the city itself! He spotted the gym from across the plaza, and immediately ran there as fast as he possibly could run! Alex kept on running until he reached the front of the Gym!

"Yes! We're finally here!" Alex was really excited at this point.

"Yeah! Good luck with your battle! I'm pretty sure you'll have the advantage with Fennekin." James said to him.

Alex nodded then looked down at Fennekin in his arms, she looked like she was ready to battle too!

"You ready girl?" Alex smiled down at his partner.

"Fennekin!" Fennekin happily returned the response.

He opened the doors and went inside of the gym. James followed him, they looked around the place and there was a long narrow hallway to their right side. They walked down the hall and looked around as well. There were lots of pictures of Pokémon in the wild, as well as different types of flowers in a forest too! They all looked like really nice pictures taken! Alex took a closer look at one picture in general, that caught his eye. It was a picture with all of the Kalos Gym Leaders together looking happy! He examined it for a while, but didn't know that they were all Gym Leaders, he just thought that they were normal people who loved to takes pictures of wildlife in forests.

"Who're are they?" James wondered too, looking at the photo as well.

"Not sure, but I'm guessing that they-" Alex started to speak again, but he was cutoff by a voice coming from behind them,

"You like that one huh?"

Both Trainers turned around and figured out where the voice came from. It came from a woman who had blonde hair, brown boots, a white tank top, green trousers, and two cameras around her neck and waist.

Alex noticed the cameras on her and immediately asked,

"Did you take all of these pictures?"

"Yes, I actually did. I took every single one of them! Why? Do you like them?" The lady raised her eyebrow in curiosity, smiling at the two boys admiring her work.

"Yeah! You're pretty good, you must really like taking pictures!" Alex complimented her.

"Aw, that's sweet! Thank you!" She replied back happily.

He looked back at the picture he was looking at before, and then looked back to the woman.

"That's you right?" Alex pointed his finger at the picture at one of the people in it.

"Hm? Oh! Yep that's me!" The lady laughed.

"Who are these people anyway?" Alex wondered even more about the photo.

"They're all Gym Leaders, we decided to have a New Years party back in January, so I took a picture of all of us together." She gladly answered his question.

"You're a Gym Leader?" James questioned her back.

She nodded her head and greeted them,

"Sorry for not introducing myself earlier, but I'm the Gym Leader in this city. The names Viola, it's a pleasure to meet you both!"

Alex and James highly respected her all of a sudden, looking up to her!

"My names Alex, and this is my partner Fennekin!" Alex greeted back, with his Fennekin waving her paw towards Viola.

"And I'm James!" James happily replied.

"A Fennekin huh? Hm..." Viola thought to herself.

She came closer to Fennekin and gently rubbed her chin. The Fire Type flinched at first, but pretty soon, a small smile formed on her face after Viola petted her gently.

"I wonder if this Fennekin was with that... One Trainer I fought yesterday..." Viola thought more about it.

The Leader then rubbed her nose, and Fennekin sneezed upon contact! Viola felt the soaring heat coming from her ears, quickly pulling her hands away from the Pokémon.

"Wow, feel that heat!" Viola laughed at Fennekin.

She focused back to the two kids and asked them,

"So anyways, what brings you two here?"

James elbowed Alex lightly, and he knew what he meant...

"I wanna challenge you to a battle! You don't mind do you?" Alex politely asked her.

Viola thought about it for a while before saying,

"Well, if you happen to be stronger than my previous challengers... Then I guess I could use a battle! I haven't had a challenger all day yesterday, so it'll be fun!"

"Awesome!" Alex cheered about her answer, thinking that she would deny him at first.

"Follow me to the arena." Viola offered, motioning them with her arms to follow her.

Alex nodded his head and followed along, James did the same thing too.

"What kind of Pokémon do you have Viola?" Alex asked, wondering what kind of Pokémon he would be going up against.

"You'll find out soon, your Fennekin will help you out, if you can keep your adorable Fire Type staying well in the first part!" Viola didn't wanna ruin the surprise.

Alex looked down at Fennekin while she did the same back to him. She smiled happily at Alex, giving him the look that she wasn't going to let him down in this fight.

"We're gonna do this together!" Alex whispered.

"Fen!" Fennekin agreed with her Trainer, wagging her tail,

"Good luck with your battle, I hope you win man! You got this!" James mumbled to his friend.

Alex nodded his head in response, looking forward to his first Gym Battle!

 ** _A couple minutes later..._**

They eventually made it to the end of the long hall, and there were large glass doors at the end of it. Viola went on in and opened the doors for them. When they got in, the arena looked huge! There was a large battlefield, which was surrounded by tons of trees, and all kinds of plants too. It was like a greenhouse garden!

"Woah! Cool!" Both James and Alex spoke at the same time, amazed by how the arena looked.

Viola went to her side of the battlefield, while Alex did the same to the opposite side.

"Alright, I'm sure you know the rules... But I'll remind you just to be sure. I can only use two Pokémon and you can use as many as you'd like. You'll get your badge if you can knockout my two Pokémon, good luck Alex!" Viola explained the set of rules.

Alex nodded his head and looked over to James, who was standing next to him.

"Good luck, hope you win!" James told him.

"Thanks!" Alex replied.

He let go of Fennekin and she ran up to the battlefield. She got ready and got into her battle stance, preparing herself for the fight.

"You choose Fennekin huh? Well then... Come on out Surskit!" Viola shouted out.

She threw a Pokéball into the air and out came a Surkit!

"Surskit!" Surskit yelled.

"What's that Pokémon?" Alex thought to himself.

He quickly pulled his Pokédex out and scanned Viola's Surskit.

"Surskit, the Water skating Pokémon. From the tips of its feet, Surskit secretes an oil that enables it to walk on water as if it were skating."

"Alright Alex, I'll let you go first! Battle begin!" Viola announced.

 _ **Alex Vs. Gym Leader Viola!**_

 ** _Play Song!: (Battle! Gym Leader - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=JWpCQ-t6RLU)_**

"Fennekin, start this off by using Tail Whip!" Alex commanded.

Fennekin immediately ran at Surskit and tried to hit him with her tail. However, Surskit kept dodging the attack, while Fennekin continued on. After a short while, Fennekin got tired pretty quick and started to slow down her pace.

"Surskit use Ice Beam and freeze the entire arena!" Viola exclaimed.

In a matter of seconds, Surskit jumped up really high in the sky and shot a large Ice Beam everywhere around Fennekin. Surskit kept on firing Ice Beam around the whole arena, and eventually the battle ground was completely frozen in a large sheet of ice! Fennekin didn't notice what Surskit was doing and she was still tired to dodge the move, but it was already too late... Her foot was completely frozen, and she was stuck in the ice!

"What?" Alex gasped at the scene.

Viola gave him a smirk and laughed quietly.

"All according to plan!" Viola thought.

When Surskit came back onto the icy ground, he didn't even slip on the ice.

"Of course! Surskit's feet can allow it to glide on ice as well, but I'm pretty sure Alex has a plan." James thought.

Alex looked at Surskit and then back to his Fennekin. He thought of a plan to try and win this battle.

"Finish Fennekin off with Bubble Beam!" Viola yelled.

Alex smiled and said,

"Fennekin, we're not giving up just yet! Use Ember below you and dodge the move!"

Fennekin listened and shot a small Ember attack below herself. The ice around her melted and her foot was free from the ice! She looked at the Bubble Beam coming towards her and quickly jumped out of the way. The move missed, but when she came back down to land on the ice, she slipped and fell down!

Viola smiled back at him and thought,

"Wow, impressive! Challengers usually don't last this long after the ice strategy!"

"Fennekin you alright?" Alex asked.

"Fen!" Fennekin nodded her head and quickly got up to her feet, slipping a bit.

"Ice Beam and Bubble Beam, I have to worry about that water move though." Alex mumbled to James.

"Yeah, maybe you should try that combo move you did on me earlier." James suggested.

"Too early, I'm a bit worried though for Fennekin. There's still a lot of ice and she can easily slip on it." Alex replied back.

"Use Bubble Beam once more!" Viola commanded.

Surskit shot a larger Bubble Beam than before at Fennekin. Seeing the size really worried Alex now... He had an idea though and he said,

"Use Scratch and jump out of the way!"

Fennekin immediately grew sharp claws on her paws and that allowed her to jump off of the ice with ease! She dodged the move easily and landed back onto the ice without slipping this time around! Viola examined Alex's plan and complimented him by saying,

"That was pretty impressive Alex, but you're missing one important thing!"

Alex tilted his head in confusion. He didn't know what Viola was planning to do.

"Alright Surskit! Skate up to Fennekin and use Sticky Web!" Viola yelled.

Surskit skated really fast on the ice towards Fennekin, and in a matter of seconds... He shot a large Sticky Web at her!

Alex shouted out, "Dodge it!" But he was too late...

Fennekin didn't have enough time to dodge the move, so it landed on her and trapped her in a large Sticky Web!

"Fenne!" Fennekin gasped in surprise.

She tried to use her claws to break the Web, but it prevented her from moving at all!

"Oh this ain't good..." Alex whispered to James.

"Yeah, that move surprised Fennekin. It went at her really quick too." James sighed.

Alex's worry came back to him, and Fennekin was stuck, giving Surskit the chance to attack again!

"Hm... Ice, Bubble, and Sticky Web." Alex thought.

He didn't have time to think of what he could do next because Viola interrupted him and yelled out,

"Finish her off and use Bubble Beam!"

Fennekin turned her head around and faced Surskit, she braced herself from the attack coming towards her. The attack eventually hit Fennekin's body. It hurt her a lot, but it didn't affect the Sticky Web. Fennekin didn't scream out in pain either, she took it like a champ. That's one of the things Alex noticed about her earlier!

"Like I said earlier dude... You're Fennekin is pretty tough. You should use that to your advantage!" James whispered.

"You're right..." Alex replied back.

He quickly told Fennekin to use Ember so that she could melt the Sticky Web. Luckily it worked, and Fennekin easily got out of the sticky situation she was trapped in!

"(No Pun intended!) XD" - Author!

Viola admired his Fennekin, she was surprised that Fennekin survived that Bubble Beam, it should've made her faint in one shot!

"Your Fennekin is pretty strong Alex, but no more games! This time I'm actually going to try my hardest to win!" Viola exclaimed.

"I won't give up either! Fennekin, Psybeam let's go! And use the ice to your advantage!" Alex shouted back.

Fennekin still had her claws from Scratch, so she didn't have to worry about the ice.

She ran up to Surskit quickly and shot a large Psybeam at him.

"Use Protect!" Viola commanded.

Then, a shiny pink shield surrounded Surskit and it canceled out the Psybeam.

Alex rolled his eyes and sighed thinking,

"Great... Her Surskit even knows Protect as well."

Surskit looked back at Viola and he nodded towards her. Viola had another plan too...

"Ice Beam!' Viola yelled.

Surskit shot a large Ice Beam towards Fennekin. The projectile went slower than usual though, and Alex knew what she was going to do with Surskit.

"Fennekin, counter the move with Ember!" Alex said.

Fennekin shot a slow Ember towards the Ice Beam as well. Viola smirked again and then her Surskit shot a fast Bubble Beam towards the Ice Beam.

When the Bubble Beam made contact with the Ice Beam, the Bubbles popped and there was now water surrounding the projectile. Alex was caught off guard, he thought that Surskit would do something else to distract Fennekin from the move, but he was wrong.

"Quick! Fire Psybeam at Ember!" Alex told her.

Fennekin listened to him and shot a fast Psybeam at her own move. When the Psybeam eventually reached the Ember, the two moves became one and it started going very fast towards the Watery Ice Beam. Alex grinned, this was his chance to attack. Surskit wasn't really worried considering he thought that Fennekin wouldn't do anything else to improve her Fiery Psybeam. Fennekin looked back at Alex, waiting for a command. Alex nodded his head whispering to her so that Viola couldn't hear him,

"Fennekin, I think Surskit is going to be distracted by the two moves colliding. They'll cancel each other out, so I want you to go through the smoke and surprise Surskit by using Tail Whip so we can lower his defense."

Fennekin's face kinda had a worried look on it after hearing that strategy.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

Fennekin pointed at the fur on her body, then she gave him an angry look.

Alex understood what she was trying to tell him so he said,

"Look, I know you don't like being dirty. I'll give you a nice long bath later on and make sure you're clean, but now's not the time for this Fennekin. I really need you to listen to me okay?"

Fennekin sighed and then turned around to face Surskit. The two projectiles eventually collided with one another and there was a massive explosion! There was a large black cloud of smoke that appeared as soon as they touched each other. The collision was so fierce and powerful that it destroyed, and cracked most of the ice at the center of the arena! This was Fennekin's chance, she ran at a great speed towards Surskit. She closed her eyes before entering the smoke. Viola didn't know what Alex was going to do, so she certainly was going to be surprised. When Fennekin came out of the black cloud, she was covered in black dust all over her body. Alex felt bad for her, she was really dirty now... He knew that she would be very mad at him when this battle was over. Surskit was startled from Fennekin running at him, and didn't have time to react to her move. She hit him hard with her tail, lowering his defense, and that made him startle too. Being stunned like that, gave Fennekin extra time to attack again, so she listened to Alex's voice yelling out,

"Use Psybeam!"

Fennekin opened her mouth wide and shot a large Psybeam at her opponent.

"Quick! Protect!" Viola shouted.

Surskit tried to use Protect but he was already hit from the Psybeam. He stumbled back a bit, closing his eyes in pain. The move hurt him badly and he was in complete agony!

"Surskit you alright? Try and use Bubble Beam!" Viola yelled.

Surskit quickly got up and ignored the pain, he shot a Bubble Beam at Fennekin who was still close. Alex knew that Viola would use that move so he shouted,

"Deflect it with Psybeam!"

Fennekin jumped back so that she could have time to shoot her Psybeam at the Bubble Beam. She shot it quickly and the Psybeam canceled out the Watery move. It went through it and hit Surskit again! Surskit rolled back far away and he stayed down for a while. He tried to get back up, but he fell back down to the floor. He couldn't fight anymore and Viola only had one Pokémon left now! The Leader sighed and then returned Surskit back into his Pokéball. She looked at the Ball and then smiled at it saying,

"You were great out there Surskit, You deserve a nice long rest."

She faced towards Alex again and shouted out,

"That was pretty great Alex! I haven't had a good challenger like you in a while, but prepare for my next Pokémon! Come on out Vivillon!"

Viola threw another Pokéball into the air and out came a Vivillon!

"Looks like she has another Pokémon, and this one looks stronger than Surskit..." Alex mumbled to himself.

"That was a great match between Surskit and your Fennekin Alex, good luck trying to beat Viola's last Pokémon!"

Alex nodded his head and quickly got out his Pokédex to scan his opponent's Pokémon.

"Vivillon, the Bug Type Flying Pokémon. Vivillon has many different patterns that are found all over the world. These patterns are affected by the climate of their habitat."

"Wow! That's a pretty cool Pokémon and it even has lots of different patterns too?" Alex exclaimed.

Viola gave him a couple of minutes to prepare. Alex checked on Fennekin to make sure she could continue on fighting and Fennekin looked alright. Viola smiled and then asked him,

"You ready to fight Alex?"

"Sure am!" Alex replied back.

Now he was excited, he and his Fennekin were feeling pretty confident enough that they could pull it off and win their first Gym Badge together.

"Alright then! Vivillon use Gust and push Fennekin into the wall!" Viola commanded her Pokémon.

Vivillon's wings turned white and she flapped her wings back and fourth. A huge stream of wind and air came towards Fennekin at great speed. Alex didn't expect it, nor did his Fennekin.

"Try and use Scratch!" Alex shouted.

She tried to use Scratch to hold onto the ground, but it failed!

"Fen! Fenne! Kiiiinn!" Fennekin screamed out.

She couldn't control her gravity and she flew back really quick towards the side of the Arena. She eventually collided into the wall and made a hole in it.

"Fennekin you alright? Can you get out?" Alex asked. He was worried for Fennekin now.

Fennekin tried her best to push herself out of the wall, but she couldn't do it. Alex started getting nervous now, He knew that Scratch or Tail Whip wouldn't work because Vivillon was in the air. Fennekin wouldn't be able to jump that high to reach her opponent. Viola grinned evilly and felt like the battle was already over.

"Looks like I've won, you were great Alex... but sorry it had to come to this. Vivillon use Psychic and keep Fennekin in that wall!" Viola said.

Vivillon used Psychic and a pink light surrounded Fennekin's body. Fennekin tried to resist the move, but she couldn't. The move was too powerful for her and she couldn't move at all!

"Oh no... This isn't good, what could she be doing?" Alex thought.

James had a worried look on his face too, he also thought that Alex had already lost. Fennekin was trapped and she couldn't do anything now, and Viola surprised Alex with her strategy.

"Don't give up now Fennekin! I know we can win this fight, I believe in you!" Alex told his partner.

Fennekin turned her head to look at Alex, then she remembered her previous Trainer again...

 ** _Flashback!_**

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

"You're a weak Pokémon, do you know that?"

She remembered it... That terrible night with her previous Trainer. She failed to beat Clemont and Viola yesterday... She let him down and she felt really bad now... Viola's strategy against her was much different than with Alex. Her Surskit didn't freeze the arena, he just kept on firing Bubble Beam at her constantly... She looked up as her Trainer showed the Pokéball that was hers. She looked into his eyes and she could tell that he was furious at her.

"Fenne?" Fennekin wondered what he was going to do next.

"I don't need you any longer, you're a weak Pokémon... So just leave, I have better and stronger Pokémon on my team than you could ever be!"

Her Trainer kicked her hard on her head... She fell down to the ground and felt the need to cry her eyes out, opening her eyes again, and looking back to him... She saw him leaving her alone on the empty streets of Lumiose City...

"FENNEKIIIN!" Fennekin screamed at him.

She got back up and tried to catch up to him, but when he turned around... He yelled once more,

"I can't believe I picked you to be my starter... You couldn't even beat Clemont or Viola! You're way too weak to even be considered a Pokémon! I don't need you anymore... Have fun finding another Trainer who would want you on THEIR team!"

Fennekin was shocked to hear that from him, she didn't want to find another Trainer... She didn't know what to do either... Except, try and convince him by crying... He didn't buy it though... He didn't even forgive Fennekin whatsoever, he just left her alone in the dark... He walked on forward, while Fennekin watched him getting farther and farther away! She wanted to try and follow him again, but she knew he would just deny her and kick her again even if she tried to do that... No Pokémon deserved to be treated this way... Hurt, heart-broken, lost, cold, and alone... Abandoned... Fennekin felt all of those things, she was strong so the kick didn't really hurt her that bad... Sure, she cried... But she would always get up, she would do her best to impress her Trainer, but he just didn't understand her when it came to just losing ONE battle! She looked down at the ground, tears streaming down her face and falling off to the concrete sidewalks below her... He was out of sight now and Fennekin cried even harder, still heartbroken to hear those awful and rude words that were spoken to her.

"How could he... Just leave me like this... All alone... After everything I've done to impress him and the rest of my team, he just leaves me right away, in the blink of an eye! What kind of human would do this?" Fennekin thought to herself, shedding tears and sobbing quietly.

She heard footsteps coming towards her way and felt a presence upon her. Feeling terrified that it'd be another bad human, she hid behind the streetlight post beside her, hiding away from the light, into the dark shadowy areas of the night. She looked as there was a dark figure approaching her, and it was much taller than she was! It was obviously a human, and Fennekin didn't know what to expect next, other than to hear the figure's soft voice speaking to her...

"Hey... It's okay, come here little fella!"

Fennekin denied listening to the human, she just stayed hidden and didn't bother responding back.

"You alright? I saw what happened and just wanted to come outside... To see if you were okay..."

"W-What?" Fennekin mumbled in surprise.

She wasn't expecting the human to ask her that, she expected him to yell at her for being outside... But for some reason, the soft voice seemed... Well, nice to hear in her perspective. Next thing she saw, was a hand extending out towards her... Without knowing what to do, Fennekin just continued to think to herself,

"What s-should I even do? Who is this human anyways? I-I don't even kno-"

With a lot of questions racing through her mind, she felt herself being pushed by an unknown force, and finally revealed herself into the light, approaching the human innocently... She pressed her head against his hand, but it felt kind of strange to her... She felt the hand rubbing her head, and it felt... Very pleasant! She didn't know what to say or think anymore, this new feeling she felt, was very unusual. It was definitely something she's never felt with her mean Trainer before, and Fennekin felt her heart warming up her emotions on the inside. Pretty soon, it felt really good now, and she felt a smile appearing on her face! She rubbed the hand back with her own head, and looked up at the human boy to see who was doing this to her. Next thing that happened, was that she felt herself being picked up by the boy and was held in his arms.

"Oh, so you're a Fennekin Huh?" The boy asked quietly, laughing at her.

Fennekin nodded her head happily, she smiled at him and enjoyed being carried too!

"Why would that trainer ditch you like that? You're one of the three starters a Trainer gets to pick, and you're all dirty too." The boy whispered even more.

Fennekin sighed in response... She had the same question too... She was a special Pokémon though, considering that only Professor Sycamore gave out the three starters of Kalos! She ignored the question though, and climbed up on top of the boy's arms and sat on top of his head. Fennekin giggled and grinned at him, she was beginning to like the boy... Maybe he could be her new Trainer?

"I think we should get you cleaned up! You're pretty dirty!" The boy laughed some more while walking across the street with her to his house.

 ** _Flashback End!_**

 ** _Translation: (Normal!)_**

That's when Fennekin remembered what Alex did for her, and how he took her in and let her sleep with him in that soft, warm, and comfortable bed. As well as even giving her a bath to clean her up! She wanted to pay him back by winning this battle so that she wouldn't make him sad! Thinking more about Alex, made her even stronger, she tried to resist the Psychic move... But she failed to do so. She was beginning to worry about herself now... She looked back at her opponent and had an angry look on her face all of a sudden, looking furiously mad.

"Now Vivillon, finish her off by using Solar Beam!" Viola commanded.

Vivillon started powering up her Solar Beam, along with a bright white shining light starting to form in her mouth. Alex waited for Vivillon to attack, he had an idea to counter the move! After a short while, Vivillon finished charging her attack and it was now ready to fire at any moment! She opened her mouth and out came a huge Solar Beam attack! It was a very large beam of light, and it looked extremely dangerous!

"Counter it with Ember!" Alex yelled.

Fennekin immediately fired Ember at the Solar Beam, hoping it would weaken or destroy the move even. Luckily it did, and Alex wasn't as worried as he was before! Fennekin eventually pushed herself out of the wall and slipped on a piece of ice considering there was still some icy chunks left over from Surskit's attack earlier. Alex examined the scattered pieces of ice around the arena for a while, then he looked at Viola's Vivillon.

"I GOT IT!" Alex mumbled to James.

"Um... What's your idea?" James wondered what he was planning on doing next.

"It's easy... If I can just use the ice to freeze Vivillon's wings, then I can easily get a clear shot with that combo move!" Alex explained.

"That's a great idea! You'll win this for sure if you can pull it off!" James agreed with his friend, hoping that it would work.

Alex nodded his head, now he was feeling very confident that he could win this fight!

"Vivillon use Sleep Powder!" Viola exclaimed.

Out of nowhere, Vivillon fired Sleep Powder at Fennekin pretty quickly! The Powder surrounded Fennekin's body and she tried to hold her breath in, trying not to inhale the powdery substance.

"That isn't going to work Viola! Fennekin make yourself sneeze!" Alex told her.

Fennekin smiled to herself and then tickled her nose with her own paw. She breathed in a bit of the Powder, but she sneezed quickly which made the Powder come right back out! The tiny fires coming out of her ears made the rest of the powder go away instantly! Seeing this, only made Viola shocked, and surprised at what Fennekin just did...

"What?" Viola gasped.

"Now Fennekin! See that big chunk of ice there? Grab it with your teeth and throw it at Vivillon!" Alex commanded his partner.

Fennekin looked around and saw pieces of ice everywhere on the ground. She spotted a huge one and picked it up with her sharp teeth. She threw it at Vivillon, but her opponent dodged it easily...

"Keep throwing them!" Alex continued commanding her.

Fennekin continuously kept on throwing ice at her opponent, hoping it would work eventually... Both of them got tired though, Fennekin got tired from throwing the ice, while Vivillon got tired of dodging the ice by constantly flapping her wings fast enough to move out of the way. Then... Fennekin heard Alex saying,

"Fennekin, remember... Even if we lose, it's okay! As long as we're having fun! That's much more important to me, even if we lose!"

Hearing those words coming from Alex, made her feel warm on the inside again. Thinking about him, only made her think of her old Trainer too... And how he would always yell at her, and how he would always push her too hard during battles too... Just thinking about her old Trainer was enough to make herself filled with rage! She didn't want to lose this battle, and she was going to win! She was going to win it for Alex! She picked up two pieces of ice from the ground and threw both of them at Vivillon. Her opponent dodged one very easily, but didn't see the other one coming right behind it! The chunk of ice impacted Vivillon's wing and it froze it completely, leaving her unable to fly any longer!

"Vivill!" Vivillon was surprised from the sudden impact!

She fell down to the ground pretty hard and tried to fly back up again, but her wing was completely frozen!

"Huh! Vivillon?" Viola asked her Pokémon to see if she was alright.

Vivillon was scared for her life now, she couldn't fly or move... She was basically stuck to the floor... Without her wing, she was in serious trouble, and it only made her even more vulnerable to attacks! Viola began to worry now, this wasn't looking good for her, nor for Vivillon! However, Alex on the other hand, was smiling as well as Fennekin too! Their plan worked, now all Alex had to do was hit Vivillon with Fennekin's combo move to finish her off!

"It's time to finish this once and for all! Fennekin, combo move let's go! Use Psybeam!" Alex shouted.

Fennekin shot a slow Psybeam beam at her opponent, who was still lying on the ground.

"Don't you even think about it Alex! She can still fight! Vivillon charge up Solar Beam one more time!" Viola spoke back, frustrated.

"Add that Ember to Psybeam!" Alex exclaimed.

"Fenne... KIN!" Fennekin fired an Ember towards her own attack.

The two moves combined, making a Fiery Psybeam once again! Vivillon charged up her Solar Beam quickly, but didn't fire yet until Viola told her to do so. After waiting for the perfect moment, Viola saw Fennekin running at her Fiery Psybeam, catching up quickly to the attack, so she said,

"Use Solar Beam!"

Vivillon instantly shot the move at the Fiery Psybeam! Alex didn't the projectile to get destroyed from the attack, so he shouted out,

"Fennekin, trust me on this! I need you to block the Solar Beam from hitting your move!"

Fennekin didn't hesitate either, she listened to Alex no matter what, and jumped over her combo'd move.

She braced herself, preparing to take the hit from the Solar Beam and ran ahead past the Psybeam! The move eventually struck her directly, causing massive damage to Fennekin!

"KIIN!" Fennekin screamed out in pain.

The Fiery Psybeam nearly hit Fennekin too, but it missed and hit Vivillon instead.

"VIVII!" Vivillon screamed too!

There was lots of smoke now... Leaving both Alex and Viola hanging, and making them feel bad for their Pokémon going through such pain...

"Fennekin! You alright?!" Alex yelled.

"Vivillon!" Viola shouted.

They didn't hear a single response from either Pokémon though... When the smoke had finally cleared away from the battlefield, they saw their Pokémon lying on the ground, looking very injured and hurt. They ran up to their Pokémon though, ignoring their battle. Viola picked up Vivillon and held her close, she fainted after taking the hit from Fennekin's move...

"You were amazing Vivillon, take a rest okay?" Viola mumbled to the Bug Type.

She returned Vivillon back into her Pokéball and put it away into her pocket, then she looked at Alex's Fennekin to make sure she was alright as well. Alex was about to pick up Fennekin, but he heard her cough out smoke slightly...

"Are you okay Fennekin?" Alex asked his partner, kneeling down to her level.

She coughed again, but finally stood up to her feet, smiling, and looking up at Viola saying,

"Fenne! Fennekin!"

Viola was thrown out of her world to find out that Fennekin was still standing after taking the hit from Solar Beam! Alex picked up his Fennekin and felt guilty for making her suffer through the pain.

"Fennekin, I'm sorry for making you go through that... We probably lost..." Alex sighed sadly.

Fennekin gave Alex a tight hug, while he returned the gesture back... Until he was interrupted by Viola laughing at him!

"What's so funny?" James questioned her, walking up to them and standing beside his friend.

Viola stopped laughing once she heard him speak, then she answered his question by saying,

"You thought you lost Alex? Your Fennekin can still fight and she's still standing... You won the battle!"

"WAIT REALLY?" Alex asked in surprise, with his heart pounding.

"Yep!" Viola grinned at him.

 ** _Alex Wins!_**

She took out two small looking objects and presented them to Alex!

"You earned it Alex, that was a fun battle! I haven't had that much fun in a while, thanks for the challenge! Anyways... Here's your Bug Badge! And take this also! It's a Badge case so that you can store Badges in it to prevent them from being lost easily." Viola congratulated him on his victorious win!

Alex took both of the objects from her, and felt a sudden joy inside of him!

"Thank you Viola! That was pretty fun!" Alex thanked her politely.

He lifted the Badge into the air and cheered out,

"Alright! Fennekin we did it! We got our first Gym Badge!"

"Fennekin!" Fennekin cheered with her Trainer happily!

He put the Badge into the Gym Badge Case, and put it away in his bag.

"That was so much fun to watch Alex! You and Fennekin were awesome out there!" James complimented his friend on his first Gym Battle!

He gave Alex a high five and petted Fennekin, making both of them smile in return! Viola continued to smile at them saying,

"I take it you're going to challenge the next Gym then huh?"

Alex nodded his head and answered the Leader's question.

"Well, good luck with that! If you're looking to add more Pokémon to your team, try and explore Santalune Forest! You'll find lots of good Pokémon there!" Viola suggested.

"Thanks for the tip Viola! I'll be sure to visit the forest before heading back to Lumiose City." Alex replied back.

"Take care you three! Maybe I'll see you again for a rematch when you get stronger in the future sometime!" Viola exclaimed.

"Definitely! See you then Viola!" Alex waved goodbye while turning around to leave the Gym.

James followed him out while Viola waved back at them too. When they finally exited the Gym, Alex felt so happy! He looked down at Fennekin who looked pretty tired out from the battle.

"You were amazing Fennekin! I bet if your previous Trainer saw you battle out there, he'd probably beg for you to come back to him!" Alex laughed.

His Fire Type fox yawned and then continued to hug Alex in response to what he just said. She felt happy around him, and was glad to be apart of his team! They went back to the Pokémon Center to heal up Fennekin really quick! Once they finished doing that, both Alex and James came back outside and searched the entire town for a route to the forest! Alex eventually spotted a blue sign towards the opposite side of the town that read,

"Santalune Forest ahead! Past Route 3!"

"Perfect! You ready to go and explore the forest James?" Alex asked his friend.

James nodded his head replying,

"Yeah, let's go!"

Alex and James started making their way down the route, continuing on with their adventure together!


	4. Ch 4, Adding New Members To The Team!

**_Ch. 4, Adding New Members To The Team!_**

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

 ** _Play Song!: (Route 2 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=Cxoykc-chqg&t=715s)_**

While traveling to Santalune Forest, Alex, James, and Fennekin were walking down Route 3. Alex wanted to find a Pokémon to add to his team considering Viola suggested it in the first place! Alex looked down at Fennekin, he was really proud of her today. She didn't give up and they beat Viola together, winning them their first Gym Badge!

"I still don't get why your previous Trainer would abandon you, you're really strong you know that? I'm very proud of you Fennekin!" Alex told his partner, rubbing the soft fur on her back.

Fennekin was happy to hear that from Alex, she still couldn't believe that she won her first Gym Battle. The next thing she wanted to do was to help him find a new Pokémon to add to the team!

"Yeah, she's really strong! She must have trained really hard in the past, maybe that's why she can take strong hits. Like that Solar Beam, she got up anyways after taking the hit!" James chuckled.

"Yep, I don't know how she does it, but she was amazing out there! Anyways, we're almost there to Santalune Forest... But I don't know what Pokémon I should get next." Alex mumbled slightly, seeing the large forest in sight.

"You could try and find Bug Type Pokémon, or Flying Types too." James suggested.

"Guess we'll have to wait and find out then huh." Alex smiled.

James nodded his head in agreement. As they continued on walking down the route, they looked around their surroundings for any Pokémon they could spot. There were even a few areas of grass around them too, just enough for Pokémon to hide in!

"Hey James, let's go see what kind of Pokémon are here!" Alex spoke again.

"Sure!" James replied back.

They came closer to the grassy area and noticed a few Pokémon hiding from them. They were wild Pokémon, so they obviously would be startled by them regardless... Alex was saddened by the fact that they were afraid of him and James, so he came up with an idea and asked his friend,

"Do you have anything in your bag that can lure them to us, without scaring them off?"

James searched through his bag and he had just the right thing to use to lure them in, Honey!

"I have Honey, I'm sure they'll like us if we give them some of this! Every Pokémon loves Honey!" James happily pulled it out as well as a small plastic spoon.

"Awesome! That'll help us pick the right one for me!" Alex exclaimed.

James opened the Jar of Honey and took a spoonful of it out. He got closer to the Pokémon in the grass and stuck out the spoon towards them. They saw the grass starting to move around and they saw a couple of figures moving towards James. When the Pokémon came out to reveal themselves to the two boys, there were only three of them... But it was better than none! All of a sudden, a Bunnelby, a Fletchling, and a Pikachu appeared in front of them! They all gathered around James and all three of them took turns licking the spoon. Pokémon really liked Honey, it was sweet so it attracted them easily! Alex quickly pulled his Pokédex out and scanned all three of them.

"Cool! it's a Pikachu, a Bunnelby, and a Fletchling! An Electric, a Normal, and a Fire Type!"

However, when James went to scoop out another spoonful of Honey, his sudden movements caused the Bunnelby and the Pikachu to flee back into the grass. Alex felt disappointed that they left and James tried to lure them back out again, but it didn't work...

"Aw... They left us!" Alex frowned.

"It's alright Alex, at least this Fletchling stayed!" James tried to cheer him up.

He gave Fletchling another spoonful of honey and Fletchling gladly ate it!

"Fletch!" Fletchling thanked him happily.

Fletchling had a bright smile on his face, he flew up to James and landed on his shoulder.

"I think he likes you!" Alex pointed at the Fletchling who was sitting on his friend's shoulder.

"You really think so? Do you think I should capture it?" James wondered.

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure Fletchling are both Flying and Fire Types." Alex answered back.

"Don't you want him? You're looking for a Flying Type right?" James asked just to be sure with this.

"I'm good dude, sure... He's a Flying Type, but he's also a Fire Type as well... Plus I already have a Fire Type Pokémon!" Alex looked down at Fennekin and rubbed her head.

"Fenne!" Fennekin blushed, wagging her tail.

"Well then..." James started, he also smiled and looked at Fletchling.

"Fletchling, do you wanna join the team?"

Fletchling didn't have to think twice, they were known for liking people quickly and trusting them easily too! They were very friendly Pokémon!

"Fletchling!" He chirped and nodded his head meaning yes.

"Great! Thanks Fletchling!" James grinned at the bird, overfilled with joy!

He pulled out a Pokéball from his bag and pressed the button on the middle of the ball. A bright red light came out and surrounded Fletchling. He went into the Pokéball and the ball immediately shook around in James' hand. After one simple shake, the ball stopped and a white light shined from it!

"Yes! I caught a Fletchling!" James cheered as he lifted the Pokéball into the air!

"That's awesome James! Now you have a Fire Type! You won't have to worry about Grass Types or Water Types anymore, considering you can counter all three starter Types!" Alex congratulated him.

"Yeah, I can't wait for my Pokémon to evolve! I'll make sure I train them hard!" James spoke confidently.

He put away the Pokéball and the two friends continued walking down the path. Alex felt happy for James, they made a new friend! When they finally reached the end of Route 3, they stopped in front of a large forest entrance.

Alex spotted a sign and it read,

"Santalune Forest!"

"We made it! Route 3 is pretty small though. That was quick!" Alex chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, some of the Routes in Kalos are short. While other routes are just really long..." James laughed, joining him.

 ** _Play Song!: (Santalune Forest - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=556wYYtAueo)_**

They went further into the forest and it got darker. The trees from the forest were large, so there wasn't much sunlight either because of the leaves blocking it out.

"Looks like we're in the forest now." Alex told James.

"You think we should explore it?" James asked.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt right? Viola told us to come here anyways." Alex answered.

James agreed with him, remembering what Viola had told them back at the Gym.

"Well, good luck with that! If you're looking to add more Pokémon to your team, try and explore the Santalune Forest! You'll find lots of good Pokémon there." Viola's voice played back in their minds like a tape recorder.

They kept on walking into the forest, getting farther in with every step they took. They immediately stopped when they heard several Pokémon's voices echoing throughout the place. They heard a couple of Fletchling cries above them, as well as other Pokémon who were hiding in the tall grass.

"Looks like we'll have to be quiet too if we wanna find some good Pokémon." Alex pointed out.

"You're right... There might be a couple of Fletchling above us too, but I already have one. I'm sure there's lots of other great Pokémon out here too for you to find." James encouraged him.

Alex decided to take a step into tall grass, he made a lot of noise while moving around in it. He got to the center of the tall grass and a Pokémon immediately jumped out of it and attacked him! He was startled by the sudden move and backed away a bit from the Pokémon. Fennekin jumped from Alex's arms and got into her battle stance, ready to attack at whoever jumped out at them. It was a Pansage that looked angry, without it hesitating... It ran towards Fennekin and grew sharp claws out of it's paws from the move Scratch.

"Fennekin use Ember!" Alex commanded.

"Fenne... KIN!" Fennekin shouted at the Pansage.

She shot a quick Ember towards her opponent, but Pansage dodged the move and scratched Fennekin across her face.

Fennekin was tough so the move didn't hurt her that bad. Pansage tried to use Scratch again, but Fennekin read Alex's mind and jumped up high above the wild Pokémon.

"Finish it off with Ember once more!" Alex said.

Fennekin fired another Ember at Pansage. He didn't realize that Fennekin was above him, so he didn't have the time to dodge or react to the move. The projectile hit him hard and he fell down to the ground instantly!

"PAN! Sage..." Pansage yelled out in agony!

The move was super effective against him, so he had trouble trying to get back up from it! After a short while of staying on the ground, he looked up at Alex who was getting ready to throw a Pokéball at him.

"Go Pokéball!" Alex shouted while throwing the ball at Pansage.

However, Pansage deflected the ball by using Scratch once more. Alex was shocked that the Pokémon did something like that.

"What?" Alex questioned the sudden move.

The Pokéball came back flying towards Alex and he caught it, but he looked back at Pansage again who gave him another killer look. The wild Pokémon got back up quickly and ran off into the bushes nearby. Alex tried to follow it but he couldn't keep up with the fast creature, so he gave up shortly after... He sighed in defeat saying,

"That Pokémon ran away from me... How am I suppose to catch a Pokémon if they're just gonna run!"

Fennekin climbed up his leg and sat on his shoulder when she got up there.

"Fenne!" Fennekin shouted at Alex.

He looked into his partner's eyes and she pointed towards the Pokéball he was holding in his hand.

"I think she's trying to tell you that you should keep trying, isn't that right Fennekin?" James asked her.

"Fennekin!" Fennekin nodded her head.

"I guess... Hopefully another Pokémon won't run away from me next time." Alex replied.

"It's okay man, I'm sure you'll find the right one eventually! You just gotta keep on trying and never give up!" James encouraged him again.

"Yeah, I guess you're both right! Let's keep searching!" Alex said.

He looked around the forest for more spots of tall grass to look in. Good thing there were lots of those throughout the place! Alex wandered through another tall grassy spot and searched through it. Fennekin even helped him out too by searching for another Pokémon as well. Sadly, there were no Pokémon were hiding... But Fennekin DID manage found something though at least! She picked it up from the ground and showed it to Alex. It was a Potion! Alex smiled at his partner and petted her head saying,

"Thanks for finding this girl! I'm sure this'll help out a lot if any of our Pokémon are injured. You're okay though from the Pansage right?"

"Fen!" Fennekin nodded her head so that he didn't have to worry about her.

He put the Potion away into his bag and carried Fennekin out of the tall grass. They returned to James who was looking at something from a far distance.

"Did you find anything?" James asked.

"Fennekin found a Potion, but sadly... There weren't any Pokémon, so let's keep going!" Alex answered.

James agreed with him again, and continued looking around. Nothing really stood out for them though... Alex decided to ignore the pathway the forest had, so he took a different route and cut straight through the forest instead. James followed him into a huge opening, watching Alex passing through the bushes and seeing lots of Pokémon on the trees around them! Both him and James looked around to see what kind of Pokémon there were, Alex took out his Pokédex again to scan all of the types of creatures in sight! There were lots of Caterpie, Weedle, and even Scatterbug too!

"These are all pretty cool Pokémon, but they're all Bug Types." Alex thought.

James turned around again and heard a noise behind them. He looked around their surroundings and felt as if someone was watching them.

"Hm..." James kept on examining the place.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked him.

"What? Oh nothing... It's not really important. Anyways, do you like any of these Pokémon?" James replied back.

"So far, no... But I'm still hoping to find one soon." Alex said.

"Here, I'll help you out! Come on out you two!" James yelled.

He threw two Pokéballs into the air and a Treecko, as well as a Fletchling, came out of them. Both Pokémon looked at their Trainer and wondered why he summoned them.

"Treecko Can you help us out? We're trying to find Alex a good Flying Type Pokémon. Maybe you can climb the trees and search for them? And Fletchling can you do the same as well?" James asked.

"Treecko!" Treecko gladly responded.

He started climbing a tree and headed for the top of it, while Fletchling did the same thing and flew up high to search for a Pokémon.

"They'll help you out a lot Alex!" James told him.

"Thanks James, But I don't know if there's any other Flying Type Pokémon out here in this forest, maybe they're all just Fletchling...it's all I hear above us!" Alex complained, starting to lose hope.

"Don't give up yet, just cause we can only hear Fletchling up there doesn't mean that they're the only Flying Types here." James exclaimed.

"Fennekin, do you think you can search for more items in this forest? Try and be careful okay?" Alex asked his partner what to do.

"Fen!" Fennekin agreed with his command and started looking around for tall grass to look in, walking away from the group.

"You trust her out there alone?" James questioned.

"Yeah I trust her, she's a Fire Type. All of these Pokémon in this forest are probably all Bug or Grass Type, just like that Pansage we saw earlier." Alex explained.

"Might as well then... Come on out Squirtle!" James opened Squirtle's Pokéball and Squirtle immediately came out to greet James.

"Squirt?" Squirtle was curious to see what James wanted.

"Can you go with Fennekin and help her find items for us?" James asked.

"Squirtle Squirt!" Squirtle nodded and followed Fennekin.

Fennekin went off to a different direction to look for stuff while Squirtle kept close behind her.

"So, what should we do now?" James exclaimed.

"Let's keep on searching for Pokémon or items too." Alex reminded him.

Both Trainers continued exploring the forest, while Treecko and Fletchling kept them protected at the same time too from above.

When they reached the other side of the forest, they saw light coming from a pathway leading outside of the forest...

"That must be the exit..." Alex thought to himself.

He looked around and didn't find anything, then he heard footsteps coming towards him and James. It was Fennekin and Squirtle who appeared out from the bushes.

"Did you find anything girl?" Alex asked her.

Squirtle held out an Antidote and showed it to him.

"Nice work you two!" James thanked them.

"You should take it James, I already got the Potion." Alex told him.

"Alright. I'm sure an Antidote will help us out a lot if any of our Pokémon are poisoned." James explained.

He took the Antidote from Squirtle and put it away into his bag, happy to hear that they found something at least in this forest...

"Chling!" Fletchling called from above.

He flew down at James and landed on his shoulder, while Treecko jumped off of a tree branch next to them and landed on James' head.

"Did you guys find any Flying Type Pokémon?" James asked both of them.

Fletchling shook his head, and Treecko did the same thing to answer his question. Alex sighed, but he didn't give up hope yet. They all traveled together and took a different route that led to a different location in the forest. They kept on searching tall grass spots all across the forest ground, but there was nothing else but Caterpie and Weedle everywhere!

"Are you sure you don't want a Bug Type instead? They can evolve into powerful Pokémon you know..." James asked him just to be sure.

"I'd rather look for a Flying-" Alex started to talk, but he was interrupted from a noise behind him.

He felt like something was watching them again... Just as James felt it a while ago too.

"Did you hear that?" Alex said.

"I heard it too, I even remember hearing that noise earlier as well, someone's definitely following us.

All of their Pokémon stepped around their Trainers, guarding them from whatever was going to pop out at them. It was just a simple little Pokémon that was watching them the whole time, and the small Pokémon appeared to be a Pancham! When he revealed himself to them, Alex immediately pulled out his Pokédex to scan the little creature.

"Pancham, the Fighting Type playful Pokémon. With it's trademark leaf always sticking out of its mouth, Pancham tries to intimidate its opponents by glaring at them intensely."

They stared at the Pancham in awh at first, while he was crossing his arms, staring at them, giving them an intensive glare.

"It's a Pancham! But what is it doing out here alone?" James wondered.

"I wanna catch it! A Fighting Type Pokémon would be a great addition to my team!" Alex cheered happily.

Fennekin got into her battle stance again, and waited for a command from Alex.

"Use Tail Whip!" Alex commanded her.

Fennekin ran at Pancham and hit him with her tail, thus lowering his defense.

"Pan?" Pancham was curious to see where this would go, tilting his head in confusion and looking adorable.

"Finish Pancham off with Psybeam!" Alex yelled.

Fennekin shot a quick Psybeam at the little Pancham, it hit him directly and cases him fell on his back.

"Pancham!" Pancham cried out in pain.

Alex felt confident enough to capture Pancham, so he took out a Pokéball and threw it at him quickly! The ball bounced off of Pancham, but it didn't open or do anything to the poor thing!

"Pan... Cham..." Pancham slowly got up, but struggled to do so.

Seeing that only made Alex confused at what just happened.

"How come the Pokéball didn't work?" Alex asked in complete shock.

He picked up the Pokéball and tried to catch Pancham again, but it still didn't work...

"That must mean that someone already owns it..." James explained the truth to him, feeling bad for his friend.

Alex sighed in defeat yet again...

"Pancham? Pancham are you around here? I heard your-" A voice came out of nowhere.

The voice belonged to a girl, who was coming out of the bushes to meet eye to eye with the two boys in front of her. She looked like Alexs' age and height, but she had long light brown hair and wore a white short sleeved sweater. along with a pink tie dyed shirt underneath that had a very adorable looking Pichu on it. She even wore darkly colored pink short-shorts and light pink shoes. Her bag was colored pink and white too! She noticed the two boys staring at her, but she quickly ignored them when she saw Pancham lying on the ground in pain.

"Oh my gosh! Pancham! Are you okay?" The girl gasped at the sight of seeing the panda Pokémon.

She picked him up and looked around his body for any serious injuries, but luckily he didn't have any!

"Uh oh..." Alex thought.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" She screamed at them.

Their Pokémon were startled from her angry scream, so they hid behind their Trainer's legs in fear!

"I um..." Alex started to speak, but he was interrupted again.

"Why did you attack my sweet little Pancham?" The girl asked him, wanting answers right away.

"I'm so sorry! I thought he wasn't owned or anything!" Alex finished talking and apologized to her.

The girl sighed heavily and replied back by calmly telling him,

"It's not your fault... I shouldn't have let him wander off alone into this forest... It's probably all my fault in the first place."

She blushed in front of them, feeling embarrassed for all of this.

"No! N-No it's not your fault! I shouldn't have attacked him so badly, he's hurt isn't he?" Alex asked just to be safe.

"T-Thanks... But I'll just take him back to my town when I find my way out of this place, so I can heal him." The girl replied back.

"I have a Potion, maybe that'll work?" Alex spoke softly, looking through his bag really quick.

"No, don't waste it... I wouldn't want you to waste your stuff for something that shouldn't have happened." The girl stopped him.

"So we just have to find a way out then huh?" James asked her.

"Mhm." She sweetly smiled at him, nodding her head in response.

He took out his Pokémon's Pokéballs and returned Fletchling, Treecko, as well as Squirtle back to him . He put them away and started leading the group out of the forest. Alex picked up Fennekin, following James, and they quickly looked for a way out of the forest together. They eventually found it though, and they saw sunlight up ahead! When they finally got out of the huge forest, Alex didn't recognize the place...

He saw a blue sign that read,

"Route 2!"

 ** _Play Song!: (Route 2 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=Cxoykc-chqg&t=715s)_**

"This isn't Route 3." Alex asked in confusion.

"We're not going to Santalune City if that's what you're asking, the city I'm from is probably a lot bigger." The girl replied, giggling at him.

"Oh... Again I'm sorry for attacking your Pancham... I've been trying to find a new Pokémon to add to my team, so I got a little carried away." Alex apologized to her again.

He felt guilty for what he did, and all the trouble he's caused her to go through... The girl looked at him, seing his upset face and she wanted to cheer him up soon after hearing his apology.

"It's okayyy! You didn't mean to! I know what it's like to search for a Pokémon for ages, and not being able to find the perfect one!" The girl cheered him up.

"We never caught your name?" James asked her.

"My name is Melanie, I just started my Pokémon journey today! I come from Aquacorde Town... What about you guys?" Melanie answered his question, wondering about them next.

"James, and I'm from Hoenn!. I just moved to Kalos yesterday, and started here right away with Alex!" James introduced himself to her.

"And the name is Alex, again... Sorry for hurting your Pancham, but I'm from Lumiose City." Alex introduced himself as well, and he apologized once again...

"Hey, like I said, it's okay! Accidents happen! It's nice to meet you both though! You two seem really nice." Melanie smiled at them.

Alex felt better getting to know another person his age, she looked like she was fourteen years old!

"So we all basically started our journey today then!" James chuckled.

"You could say that." Melanie giggled at his statement.

"You wanna travel with me and Alex? Right now, I'm just exploring Kalos with Alex because I don't really have any goals at the moment..." James offered.

Melanie thought about it for a while before nodding her head at him saying,

"Sure! It'll be lots of fun exploring Kalos together with you two! So what's the trouble?"

Alex smiled at her answer, they made a new friend to travel with!

"So, how far until we get there to Aquacorde Town?" Alex wondered, suddenly his spirits were high again.

"It's just up ahead, Route 3 is short anyways." Melanie replied back happily.

She looked down at her Pancham who looked like he was getting better than earlier!

"You feeling better now Pancham?" Melanie asked her partner.

"Pa cha pan!" Pancham smiled at her.

Alex walked over to pet Pancham lightly, he felt bad for attacking the cute little Pokémon.

"I'm sorry for attacking you earlier Pancham, can you forgive me?" Alex apologized, hoping that the little Fighting Type panda would accept his apology.

"Pancha!" Pancham nodded and gave a smirk towards Alex, forgiving him.

Melanie and James smiled at them together, they expected Pancham to hate Alex forever... But luckily, Pancham was an easily forgiving Pokémon!

"Is that a Fennekin too?" Melanie questioned Alex, noticing Fennekin.

She looked over at his Fennekin who was staying quiet on his shoulder. She was a bit shy when it came to meeting new people... Alex looked at his partner and showed Fennekin to her.

"Yep! She's a Fennekin alright! Really tough too, she helped us win our first Gym Battle together against Viola. But, she's still a bit upset from her previous Trainer before me..." Alex showed Melanie a closer look at his Fennekin.

"Awh... She's so cute! But what happened with her previous Trainer?" Melanie wondered about that next.

Alex explained the whole story to her in detail, while James enjoyed himself, looking at the environment around them. When Alex finished telling the story, Melanie's heart broke into pieces when he was done... She started feeling bad for Fennekin, and how she was abandoned like that.

"That Trainer must be a huge jerk then! Who would abandon something so adorable?" Melanie argued.

"I know... It still confuses me too... But, she's with someone better!" Alex chuckled, scratching Fennekin's chin lovingly.

"Fe!" Fennekin licked his cheek again and wagged her tail in response to the affection, feeling very joyful all of a sudden!

Melanie regained focus back to her Pancham and saw the bridge that connected between Route 2 and Aquacorde Town.

"We made it!" Melanie announced.

 ** _Play Song!: (Aquacorde Town - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=0uEHDAIKIbk&t=1464s)_**

Alex and James looked ahead of her and saw the town up ahead. The bridge that was there was over a very large river, there had to be lots and lots of Water Type Pokémon in the large body of water!

"Wow, what a sight!" Alex shouted, amazed by the view.

He looked across the bridge and everything looked nice compared to Santalune Town.

"This place looks so nice!" James pointed out.

Melanie laughed and started walking down the bridge to her hometown.

"Yeah... I love my home! If you guys get hungry, there's a Cafe that sells food here for you and your Pokémon too!" Melanie told them.

"Where are you going? Alex wondered, hoping she wouldn't leave them so soon.

"I'm gonna go on ahead, you see... There's no Pokémon Center in this town, and I know someone who loves to heal Pokémon! She lives right next door to my house! You guys can go ahead though without me... I'll meet you back here and help you find a Pokémon right after I'm finished!" Melanie explained more about her town.

"Oh alright..." Alex mumbled disappointed at that.

She went on ahead and ran down the bridge to the town! Alex and James followed her but they didn't run though. Instead, They walked and enjoyed the view that they had!

"So, what do you think of her?" James smiled at him.

"She's really nice, it'll be fun to travel with another person don't you think?" Alex replied back.

"Yeah, she has a Fighting Type which is pretty cool. Have you've decided what Gym you're going to take on next?" James asked curiously.

Alex took out the Kalos map and took a quick look at it, wondering where his next Gym would take place at.

"Looks like we should get back to Lumiose City. I'm pretty sure there's a Gym there too!" Alex pointed his finger at Lumiose City on the map.

"We're so far from it though!" James complained.

"Not really, come on! Lighten up! It's your second day in Kalos, gotta enjoy it right?" Alex laughed.

"Heh... I guess so! Hopefully you find another Pokémon to add to your team." James said.

They continued looking across the river and enjoyed the view.

"It's nice ain't it Fennekin?" Alex rubbed Fennekin's head.

"Fenne!" Fennekin nodded her head and enjoyed the view as well.

The sun shined brightly in the sky, reflecting off of the clear blue water. Alex saw some Pokémon underwater and wondered what they were doing, until he was interrupted from Fennekin's belly growling. He looked at her and noticed her blushing. She got embarrassed easily whenever it came to sneezing or other stuff too... That was another thing that Alex liked about his partner.

"You hungry girl?" Alex asked her.

"Fen!" Fennekin replied back happily.

He looked into his bag and saw a note sticking out. It was a note from Professor that read,

"Don't forget to feed the little one! Remember when I told you what she likes to snack on?"

He chuckled silently and saw a bag next to the note. It was a bag filled with small twigs inside.

"These must be for Fennekin then, thanks Professor" Alex thought.

He took out one of the twigs in the bag and gave it to Fennekin. She put it in her mouth and chewed on it. She smiled at her Trainer and he smiled back at her.

"You're adorable, you know that right?" Alex whispered into Fennekin's ear.

She blushed hard and continued to snack on the twig.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat James." Alex told his friend.

Together, both of them continued to walk down the bridge. When they eventually reached the end of the bridge, they finally made it to the town.

"Look at this place! It looks really nice here compared to Santalune Town!" James pointed out.

"Yeah, she said there should be a cafe around here though. I'm getting pretty hungry too, and I bet all of your Pokémon as well." Alex said.

There were lots of people in the town along with many different types of Pokémon! They looked around the town and saw many buildings. Some were shops, while others were either homes or Cafes.

"How much money do you have?" James asked Alex.

"Not sure, the Professor packed my bag for me just before I left to start my journey." Alex responded back.

He looked in his bag and saw lots of things in it. He saw a sleeping bag, tooth brush, extra clothes to wear, as well as a wallet with his Trainer ID card in it. He remembered his mother giving the Professor a small bag with his personal stuff in it, right before they left to go to the lab together. He took out the wallet and opened it to see how much money he had.

"I only have $500 Poké-Dollars..." Alex said.

He even had a credit card in his wallet too, with more than enough money to last him the whole journey throughout the region!

"Maybe we could buy Potions?" James suggested.

"Good idea, let's go look around!" Alex agreed.

The two boys walked around the town for a bit, and they spotted a "Potions Shop" outside. It was a small shop to be honest... Alex shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the store anyways. When he got there, he was greeted by a man saying,

"Looking to buy any Potions young man?"

"Yes please, how much for each?" Alex wondered.

"$300 Poké-Dollars." The man exclaimed.

"Wow... That's really overpriced for one Potion..." Alex thought.

He gave the guy his money anyways, Now he only had $200 Poké-Dollars left. The man happily gave him the Potion and Alex gave it to James.

"Here, you have it. I already have one, but just in case we need to split up in the future." Alex explained.

"You sure?" James asked just to be sure.

"Yep! Take it!" Alex handed James the Potion and he put it away in his bag.

"Thanks!" James thanked him.

"Don't mention it!" Alex smiled.

Both of them continued to explore the town while also trying to look for a cafe to eat at. They eventually found stairs and they went up them. What they discovered, was two very large buildings with chairs and tables scattered around the place.

"Perfect! We found it!" James cheered.

Alex laughed and they took a seat at a random table.

"Come on out guys!" James shouted out.

He threw three Pokéballs into the air and his Pokémon came out to greet him.

"Fletch?" Fletchling looked around and examined the town he was in.

None of his Pokémon recognized the place...

"We're in a different town now! You guys hungry?" James asked all three of them.

All of his Pokémon nodded their heads happily and jumped onto the large table.

Alex let go of Fennekin and she sat in front of him on the table as well. A waitress saw them and walked up to them asking them,

"Welcome! Are any of you interested in getting something to eat?" She asked them.

"Um... What's on the menu?" Alex asked back.

She gave the two boys a menu for themselves and gave them a moment to decide what they would like to eat.

"What are you getting?" James questioned Alex.

"I don't know... I have to look!" Alex complained.

He opened the menu and read it, and there were all kinds of food to choose from! After looking at it for a while, Alex finally decided what he wanted.

"I'll have a Burger with Fries, A glass of Water, and a side of Peppers! As well as a spicy Pokéblock! That alright with you Fennekin?" Alex asked his partner.

"Fen! Fennekin!" Fennekin happily nodded her head.

The waitress wrote down what he wanted and then looked at James.

James knew his Treecko and Squirtle very well, he knew what their favorite foods were. Both Treecko and Squirtle loved eating Berries!

"Fletchling, are Berries okay for you?" James asked him.

"Fletchling! Fletch!" Fletchling agreed to eat it.

James smiled, then he told the waitress what he wanted.

"I'll have the same thing my friend is having, and can I get some Berries too for my Pokémon?" James asked politely.

"Sure! Do you guys wanna split the bill or pay separate?" The waitress told them.

"We can pay separate." James answered.

She wrote it all down on a piece of paper, took their menus, and walked back inside the Cafe.

"Oh yeah, I didn't get to introduce you two to Fletchling yet!" James told Treecko and Squirtle.

Both of them noticed the happy Fletchling on his shoulder and greeted themselves to him. Fennekin walked to the other side of the table and decided to join them.

"Fennekin, Fenne? Fen!" Fennekin talked to them.

"Treeck!" Treecko replied.

"Squirt!" Squirtle said.

Fennekin jumped off of the table, Treecko and Squirtle joined her, as well as Fletchling too. They started walking away from Alex and James, but they were stopped by them instantly.

"Where are you guys going?" Alex asked all four of them.

"I think they're going to go play with each other, that or explore the town... Is that right guys?" James asked them.

All four Pokémon nodded their heads and continued to walk down the stairs that led to the center of the town.

"Don't go very far okay? You don't wanna miss out on Lunch do you?" Alex chuckled to himself.

They all understood and left the two boys to themselves.

"You sure you're comfortable with leaving them alone?" James asked his friend.

"Yeah, they're all going to be together anyways. What's the worst that can happen?" Alex replied back.

"You know... I've always wanted to see that map of yours." James sighed.

Alex pulled out his map, opened it, and gave it to James to look at. He took a long look at it too...

"So... Where do you think we're going to go after your Gym Battle in Lumiose City?" James asked curiously.

"I don't know.. I'm pretty sure the Gym Leader's name is Clemont though. I've heard a lot about him! My mom told me that he's an inventor, he likes to make lots of cool inventions! I can't wait to meet him when we get back to Lumiose!" Alex grinned and thought about it for a while.

"He sounds like a really great person to meet! I'm glad Melanie is joining us on your journey!" James exclaimed.

Alex raised his eyebrow and gave his friend a confused look saying,

"I've been wondering dude... Don't you have any dreams? No offense or anything... I'm not trying to be mean, but... Aren't you on a special mission or a journey of some sort?"

James shook his head and sighed at the same time replying,

"I don't have anything I wanna go for right now, I guess I'll just stick with you and help you achieve your dream of becoming champion!"

"I appreciate the help man!" Alex laughed, understanding what he meant.

Both of them gave each other a fist bump and just stared at the clear blue skies above them. After a couple minutes of a long silence... Alex thought,

"Hm... Hopefully I can find a Pokémon to capture soon! At least we met Melanie and Fletchling today though... Guess that's something..."

He continued to look at the sky, then he heard several footsteps coming from behind them. He looked behind him and saw their Pokémon walking back to them.

"That sure was fast." Alex asked in shock, realizing that they were only gone for only about ten minutes.

They all jumped onto the table and looked pretty tired, huffing and puffing, and sighing heavily too.

"Looks like you guys had a lot of fun playing together weren't you? No wonder you guys all look tired... Did you guys play Tag?" James asked them all.

"Ko!" Treecko nodded his head and James smiled at him.

Alex turned his head back at the cafe entrance and saw the waitress coming back with food trays in her arms!

"Enjoy guys!" She exclaimed happily, and set the food trays down on the table.

"Looks good doesn't it Fennekin? I got the Peppers and the spicy Pokéblock just for you!" Alex grinned and petted Fennekin's head while telling her that.

Her tail started to wag back and fourth as she sniffed her food. Alex heard her stomach rumble again and he laughed at her! She ignored his laughter and dragged the plate of Peppers as well as her Pokéblock away from everyone else around her. Once she finished doing that, she started eating her food! She took a bite out of the Pokéblock and her eyes widened in surprise from the taste!

"FFFFEENN!" Fennekin suddenly screamed in joy!

Fire Types loved spicy food, but Fennekin never tried spicy foods before! So the taste was very pleasant, and satisfying! She was happy to eat good food for once! Alex started eating his Burger and enjoyed it too! The sandwich tasted delicious and so did the refreshing Water! James experienced the same thing Alex was going through, along with their Pokémon as well! James' Pokémon were all enjoying many different kinds of Berries! Oran, Leppa, Lum, Sitrus, and even Razz Berries, there was a huge selection to choose from, and they all looked fresh and delicious! The food was pretty good and all of them enjoyed it very much! It was really great, bonding with a lunch together in the town, on a really nice sunny day!

 **A couple of minutes later...**

They finally finished eating their food and they were satisfied by what they ate!

"That... Was a very great lunch!" Alex said out loud.

He burped and wiped his mouth with a napkin. They were all full, literally there was no food left! They ate it all! Their waitress had already given them the bill, and they paid for their food, and didn't forget to tip her either.

Fennekin finished eating the last Pepper that she had on her plate, and yawned shortly after swallowing it. Alex smiled and started rubbing her belly since she was laying down on her backside.

"F-Fenne-k-kin!" Fennekin giggled so adorably, it would make your heart melt!

She put her paws over Alex's hand and tried to push it off of her full belly, but he didn't give up! He started to laugh uncontrollably, and tickled her some more! By then, Fennekin gave up and opened her mouth at him. She was getting ready to fire a Psybeam at him just so he could get his hand off of her. He quickly understood the message and stopped tickling her instantly, it was enough to scare him half to death!

"Alright! Alright! I get your point!" Alex shouted, quickly pulling away from her.

Fennekin started to laugh at her Trainer's reaction, until she was interrupted by another long yawn!

"You tired girl?" Alex whispered to her while petting her soft tail.

She closed her eyes and curled up into a ball, laying her head down on her tail, and using it like a pillow...

"Wanna take a nap in your Pokéball?" Alex asked her.

She thought about it for a while before nodding her head. It wouldn't hurt to be in your Pokéball for a bit to rest, would it? He pulled out her Pokéball and returned her back into it.

"Take a nice long rest Fennekin, you deserve it after today!" Alex mumbled to the Pokéball.

He looked back over to James and asked him,

"Wanna get going back to the bridge? Melanie is probably waiting for us by now..."

"Wait! I almost forgot... Do you guys want any Honey?" James pulled it out quickly and opened the jar.

His Pokémon smelled it and growled at him in annoyance... They shook their heads furiously and stayed looking away from him. They must've been full already...

"Geez alright! You Pokémon have attitudes today!" James laughed at their soft growls.

He put away the Honey and returned the three of his Pokémon back into their Pokéballs, then he put them away, while Alex did the same with Fennekin's ball.

"Alright let's go!" Alex exclaimed.

"Right!" James replied.

They both got up from the table and went back to the stairs. When they finally reached the plaza of the town, they started making their way towards the bridge. Both of the Trainers spotted their friend Melanie, who was waiting at the other side of the bridge on Route 2! They ran up to her, and eventually caught up with her just in time!

"Hey guys! How was your first visit here?" Melanie wondered, giving them a warm and welcoming smile!

"It was... Great! The food here was delicious!" Alex answered back, remembering the delicious food.

"How's your Pancham doing?" James asked her soon after Alex spoke.

"He's resting in his Pokéball! No need to worry though, he's healthy now!" Melanie explained.

"That's good to hear! Fennekin is doing the same thing too! She's really tired from our Gym Battle." Alex grinned.

"I bet she is... She looked really tired when I first saw her! So... You guys ready to go?" Melanie smiled.

"Yeah, let's go help Alex find that Pokémon!" James cheered.

The three friends left Aquacorde Town and they started making their way through Route 2 again, after crossing the lengthy bridge.

"Hey Alex! Do you mind telling me about your Gym Battle with Fennekin?" Melanie asked curiously, wanting to hear another story!

"Sure!" Alex replied.

He explained the entire Gym Battle with her, and she was enjoying the story! She was really into it, so she never took her mind off of the story, nothing else distracted her either! Alex told her basically everything he and James did along the way to Santalune City. He told her about their first battle, their second, how they met Fletchling, and what they were doing in Santalune Forest in the first place!

"Wow! That was some day you guys had!" Melanie giggled.

"Heh... Yeah I guess you could say that." James rubbed the back of his head.

He forgot about the Gym Badge Alex won and immediately shouted,

"You never showed me that Gym Badge from earlier though! You put it away too quick before I could even get the chance to look at it when Viola handed it to you!"

Alex sighed and pulled out the Gym Badge Case Viola gave him. He opened the case and examined the Bug Badge for a while.

"Wow, that actually looks really cool! It's like a bug almost!" James complimented it.

"Well of course it looks similar to a bug, it's called the Bug Badge... That means I only have seven Badges left to go!" Alex chuckled at James' response.

"That reminds me... Where are we going after Santalune Forest?" Melanie interrupted them.

"We're going back to Lumiose City, so I can challenge Clemont to a Gym Battle, and get my second Badge!" Alex explained to her.

"Ooo! That'll be fun! I've never been to Lumiose City before, but I've heard a lot about the big City!" Melanie smiled at Alex.

"You haven't been there yet? Or seen pictures of it at least?" James asked her in surprise.

"Sadly no... I haven't, but it's a good thing I'm traveling with you guys now! It'll be nice to explore different places I've never been to before!" Melanie grinned at her two new friends.

That's when Alex saw a small Pokémon flying through the grassy spots on the ground next to the forest! The Pokémon eventually stopped moving, waiting a couple of seconds, and staying completely still! After a couple of seconds had passed, the Pokémon flew out of the grass which surprised all three of them!

"What's that?" Alex wondered who the Pokémon was.

The small Pokémon was flying in the air and looked at all three of them curiously, tilting it's head cutely.

"Star?" The Pokémon greeted itself to them.

Alex pulled out his Pokédex and scanned the creature really quick, so he could find out what it was!

"Starly, the Flying Type bird Pokémon. Starly flock around mountains and fields in big groups, chasing after Bug Types! Their singing is noisy and annoying sometimes, but it can be lovely during the night! These Pokémon usually travel in groups when they're flying across distant lands by themselves!"

"It's a Starly!" Alex shouted.

"But what's a Starly doing here in Kalos? I thought they were only found in the Sinnoh region?" James questioned it.

Alex took a step closer to the Starly, but the tiny Pokémon got startled very easily and it flew away very fast into the forest, terrified of them all...

"Wow, what speed! I wanna catch him!" Alex yelled out loud all of a sudden!

"Well what're we standing around here for? Come on guys!" Melanie announced.

She started running past the end of Route 2, and made it to the entrance of Santalune Forest! Alex and James looked at each other for a split second before catching up to her. When they reached her, all three of them went into the forest and started to look for the Starly together.

 ** _Play Song!: (Santalune Forest - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=556wYYtAueo)_**

"Back here again huh..." James sighed.

"Yep, let's just look for the Starly and then make our way to back Lumiose okay?" Alex reminded him.

James agreed with his friend and brought out Fletchling again.

"Flet?" Fletchling looked around and wondered what James wanted.

"Fletchling, can you look for a Starly?" James asked him what to do.

Alex gave him his Pokédex so that James could show Fletchling what a Starly looked like. Fletchling looked at the picture for a bit before nodding his head in response.

"Fletchling!" Fletchling cried out and flew up high to search the forest for the Pokémon!

"That'll help a lot! So, how're we going to track the Pokémon down anyways?" Melanie asked them.

James shrugged his shoulders while Alex began to think of something quick.

"I got it! They like to chase down Bug Type Pokémon! James and I found lots of Bug types in one part of the forest earlier today!" Alex explained.

"Yeah let's try and find that place again!" James said.

He and Melanie started following Alex, who led them through the dark forest together.

"James, can you give me some of that Honey? Maybe it'll attract the Starly." Alex asked.

James took out the jar and gave it to Alex. He opened up the jar and held it out while searching, hoping that Starly would be attracted to the scent of the sticky food.

 _ **One moment later...**_

After a short while of walking around, they eventually heard a loud cry coming from up above them!

"Ling!" Fletchling shouted from above.

He flew down back to the group, and James asked him,

"What's wrong bud?"

"Fletch! Fletchling!" Fletchling replied back.

"You found Starly right?" James said.

Fletchling nodded his head and led all three of them to where he found the bird Pokémon. When everyone saw Fletchling stop behind a bush, they stopped walking behind it and took a closer look at what was going on, so they looked through the bushes. They saw a Starly laying on the ground and it couldn't get up, but it tried to though... Then, they found out that it was injured from something! It was confronted by a Pansage, just like the one Alex and James saw from earlier!

"Pan..." Pansage grinned evilly.

"Starly: Gender: Female" The same Pokédex noise spoke again as it scanned Starly on its own.

The Pansage ran at the Starly with sharp claws, catching everyone off guard... Alex didn't want anything to happen to Starly, so he immediately ran and blocked off Pansage from reaching her, stopping Pansage in his tracks!

"Star?" Starly looked up and saw Alex defending her from the attacking Pokémon.

"Sorry for interrupting your nap, but come on out Fennekin!" Alex threw a Pokéball and Fennekin came out of it.

"Fen... Fenne? FENNEKIN!" Fennekin shouted at her Trainer.

"Look, I'm sorry for interrupting your nap, you can continue to take a rest after you beat this same Pansage!" Alex explained to her.

"Fe..." Fennekin groaned, sighing at her Trainer in annoyance.

She yawned at him and then turned around to face the Pansage.

"Use Ember!" Alex commanded her what to do.

Fennekin shot it anyways towards the Pansage, but he just dodged it and ran off like a coward!

"Hey!" Alex shouted at the Pansage, but he was already gone after he jumped into the bushes...

He sighed and refocused back to the injured Starly. The poor Pokémon must have encountered the Pansage, and she probably lost the fight against him. Alex quickly examined the injured creature as he searched through his bag and took out the Potion Fennekin found earlier. Starly had several scratches on her wing, and Alex sprayed the Potion on them to make her feel better. The scratches on the wing healed pretty quickly and Alex picked Starly up.

"You feeling better now Starly?" Alex whispered.

"Star... Ly?" Starly opened her eyes again and looked up to see who it was.

Alex smiled and rubbed Starly's head gently so he wouldn't startle her. He took the spoonful of honey that James gave him and fed it to the Bird Pokémon, hoping that she would enjoy the tasty snack!

"That taste good?" Alex grinned as Starly began licking the spoon.

"Lyy!" Starly started chirping happily in response.

He gave more spoonfuls to her and then got out a Pokéball.

"You wanna join me on my journey? You won't have to deal with that same Pansage again... I'll protect you no matter what! I promise!" Alex mumbled into her ear.

Starly thought about it for a while before nodding her head in agreement. She pecked the button on the Pokéball with her beak, and she instantly went into the capturing device. The Pokéball stopped shaking after one click right away, and Alex caught another Pokémon!

"Yes! Finally, I caught a Flying Type!" Alex celebrated as he lifted the Pokéball into the air.

"Fen-nekin!" Fennekin joined him and jumped onto his shoulder licking his face in celebration.

"Thanks for scaring off that Pansage girl." Alex thanked her and gave her another twig to snack on from his bag.

Due to the snack that Alex gave her, twigs were great for giving Fennekin more energy whenever she felt tired! As soon as she swallowed it, she felt more awake, and didn't feel sleepy at all anymore! Alex noticed this and began thinking of how it would be useful after battles, but he was interrupted from Melanie asking him,

"That's awesome that you caught Starly Alex!" Melanie congratulated him, and smiled happily.

"Thanks! Couldn't have done it without your guys help though!" Alex thanked both of his friends and smiled back.

"That's really cool! I'm happy for you! Do you wanna go to Lumiose City now?" James asked, wondering.

"Yeah, let's head out!" Alex replied back, walking ahead of them.

Fennekin rested on his shoulders while he led them to a way out of the forest.

 _ **Moments later...**_

After a while of searching, Alex eventually found the pathway that led back to Route 3.

"We made it out! Finally!" James yelled.

"Yeah... It took us long enough to find the pathway to escape that forest." Alex said.

They all ran as fast as they could to reach Santalune Town, and they made it there quickly... Skipping over Route 3.

"Well, we're here now Melanie! All we have is Route 4 and then we'll finally be at Lumiose!" Alex cheered.

"Really? It felt like we've been traveling for miles already..." Melanie was out of breath from the running they just did.

"Quit exaggerating! We'll be there before you know it!" James tried cheering her up, which worked.

"Okay good... Hopefully we don't have to run anymore!" Melanie sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry guys! I'm just really excited to get my second Gym Badge!" Alex told them.

"You just got your first Gym Badge dude!" James yelled at him.

"I know, but I wanna meet Clemont already!" Alex said.

"But-" James started to speak again, but he was cutoff by Melanie saying,

"James it's alright... Let's go Alex!"

Alex nodded his head and all three of them quickly made their way out of the city... When they reached Route 4, They started walking down the long narrow path of gardens.

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 4 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=YygRV5AwEGg&t=179s)**_

Melanie wanted to see the map again, since they've traveled a bit from her hometown. Alex decided to just give it to her for the time being, so she opened it up, and took a good look at it.

"Wow, Kalos sure is big!" Melanie gasped at the size of the region they were in.

"Yeah it is! I can't wait to travel the entire Region with you two. It'll be so much fun!" Alex cheered.

"It will!" James agreed with him.

They enjoyed each other's company while walking down the path. Alex looked around and saw many Trainers as well as lots of different Pokémon playing with each other along the route. He took a deep breath and exhaled it out, he sure did love exploring places and seeing other people like him happy. That's when Fennekin took the opportunity to take out another twig from Alex's bag. She ate it quickly so that he wouldn't notice her, and once she swallowed it, Alex looked at her. She had a huge smile on her face, with a sweat dropping from the side of her face nervously. She hid the little secret from her Trainer, and giggled soon after. She liked Alex a lot as a partner to be with, and she was staring to forget about her old Trainer now, which was a good thing! Fennekin licked his face again and he continued to stare at her saying,

"What's wrong girl?"

"Fen!" Fennekin opened her mouth and pointed at her tongue.

"You want ANOTHER snack? You just ate Lunch, and I gave you a twig earlier!" Alex reminded her.

"FENNE!" Fennekin cried out.

She gave him her usual sad puppy dog face, and pretended to cry...

"Fennekin, please... Don't do this to me." Alex told her once again, while trying to look away from her.

"F-Fen!" Fennekin continued to cry and pretended to sob now...

He still didn't look at her, until she cried some more. When he saw her face, his heart was broken from how adorable she looked...

"Alright! Alright! You can have another one! But just one! Got it?" Alex sighed in defeat.

He gave her another twig and she chewed on it happily, suddenly changing her sad mood... Into a joyful one!

"Fennekin must really like twigs!" Melanie giggled at the two.

"I noticed that earlier when I gave her a twig, they give her more energy for some reason... She's more awake than earlier." Alex explained.

"That's pretty cool! Do you think it'll also help her evolve soon?" James wondered.

"Maybe... I don't know! Guess we'll have to wait and see!" Alex grinned at his partner.

Hearing that from James made him wonder what Fennekin would look like after she evolved. Would she look cool? Or would she look beautiful? Or would she be a really powerful Pokémon? Alex had no idea, but he didn't worry about it at all. What mattered the most to him, was enjoying every minute of his adventure with his friends!

"I think we're almost there guys!" Melanie yelled while pointing her finger towards a couple of large buildings up ahead.

"Yeah you're right! We're almost there!" James happily shouted out, agreeing with her statement.

They passed by that large fountain from yesterday and Alex couldn't help but smile even more at it. He remembered when he tripped over that rock, causing Fennekin to fall into the water. Fennekin noticed the fountain too, but didn't pay too much attention to it. She was busy relaxing and eating at the same time too! When they continued walking for a while, Alex thought about something important. Something that he was going to look forward to in the near future.

"Hey James! Do you mind if we battle again some day?" Alex asked him.

James nodded his head as a response, and Alex smiled wide.

"I wanna battle you guys too! I'm sure Pancham will enjoy it!" Melanie asked both of them.

"Yeah sure, you can battle us!" James happily replied back.

They all grinned happily thinking about their battle in the future, and how it could turn out to be!

 _ **Minutes later...**_

Alex and his friends finally made it to the end of Route 4 and saw the gate that led to Lumiose City. Alex was the first to lead them through the gate and sure enough, they finally made it to Lumiose!

"We made it!" Alex cheered.

 _ **Play Song!: (Lumiose City - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=x60KfmRIpbc&t=136s)**_

Melanie gasped and looked around the city. There were tons of people out on the street, as well as many cars, buildings, cafes, and even Pokémon playing with lots of kids!

"Wow, This place is huge!" Melanie shouted in surprise.

"Yep! There's always something to do here in Lumiose. Do you guys mind if we go and meet Clemont first?" Alex asked them just to be sure.

"Sure!" Both James and Melanie agreed.

Alex spotted the huge tower at the center of the city from a far distance, and he started running towards it.

"Wait up!" James yelled at him.

Alex didn't stop though, he just kept running and running till he eventually found the right street to take. He took so many different pathways while running. Luckily though, Melanie and James were able to catch up to him. Then, Alex saw the tower getting even closer to them, as he was practically sprinting now!

"Second Gym Badge! Here we come!" Alex shouted happily while running.

Fennekin smiled, she was pumped up for the battle as well! They finally made it to the area where the tower rested, and he saw the big entrance to the inside! He immediately ran towards the doors of the tower, until he was stopped by a loud shout from behind him,

"STOP!"

He turned around and saw a little girl walking up towards him. The little girl looked like a little kid, and she had blonde hair, bright blue ocean colored eyes, pink shoes, and a yellow bag too!

"Um... What's up?" Alex asked the girl, wondering why she stopped him so suddenly.

"Can I see how many Badges you have?" The little girl asked him politely.

"Sure!" Alex answered back, while taking out his Badge Case.

He showed her his Bug Badge and when the girl saw it, she had an angry look on her face all of a sudden!

"You're not thinking about challenging the Gym Leader here are you?" She asked, giving him a killer look soon after.

"Actually, I am... Why? Is there a problem?" Alex questioned her back, giving her a bit of an attitude.

"Yes! A really really huge problem! You don't have enough Gym Badges to challenge him yet! You need at least four badges!" The girl replied back, showing him '4' with her in hers.

"What do you mean?" Alex yelled back, confused about this.

He never thought that he needed four badges in order to enter the Gym. He had a strange feeling that this girl was just trying to trick him into not going in.

"It's just the rules! Clemont's Gym only allows Trainers that have four or more Gym Badges to enter... I'm sorry." The girl explained to him.

That's when James and Melanie finally caught up to Alex. They looked pretty tired, but they made it at least...

"Hey guys!" Alex greeted his two dead looking friends.

The little girl noticed Melanie and she immediately ran at her! The girl got on her knee and held out her hand towards Melanie, similar to a marriage proposal... The kid suddenly shouted,

"Hi there! Will you take care of Clemont for me? Pretty please! A beautiful girl like you would make the perfect bride for my brother!

"BONNIIEE!" An angry voice came from behind them.

They all turned around and saw a figure coming out of the tower. It was Clemont, the Gym Leader of Lumiose City!

"What? Brother?" Alex yelled, shocked...

Clemont started running towards his sister, Bonnie and started to pull her away.

"Bonnie! I told you to stop doing that! It's embarrassing!" Clemont told her quietly.

"Why not? I can't keep looking after you forever you know!" Bonnie laughed nervously.

Clemont sighed and focused back to the Trainers in front of him, who had no idea what was going on between the two...

"Forget what just happened okay! She has no idea what she's talking about!" Clemont talked pretty fast.

"Wait, are you... Clemont?" James asked.

"Why yes I am! And this is my younger sister Bonnie." Clemont introduced both him and his younger sister.

"Hi!" Bonnie greeted them, waving at them.

Melanie was still pretty confused at what she just witnessed. She decided to ignore it though, and asked Alex,

"So um... Alex are you going to challenge him?"

"I can't..." Alex sighed.

"Why not?" Clemont wondered.

"Because Bonnie told me that I need at least four Badges to challenge you." Alex explained.

"Yeah, she's right... Sorry about that... The Pokémon League rules say I have to..." Clemont apologized, feeling bad for denying him entry to the Gym.

"It's okay, do you know any other Gyms around here though?" Alex asked.

Clemont thought about it for a while before answering,

"You could try Cyllage City. Most Trainers go there to challenge Grant after Viola."

"Thanks Clemont! I'll be sure to work really hard on getting those Badges that I need!" Alex thanked him.

"You're welcome, I look forward to battling you in the future!" Clemont smiled.

He started making his way back into the tower, while Bonnie stayed behind. When he was gone, Bonnie ran up to Melanie and whispered into her ear saying,

"Think about it though okay? I'll still be here waiting for an answer when you return!"

"BONNIE!" Clemont yelled at her from the tower.

Bonnie giggled like a mad girl, and ran back into the large tower after hearing her brother's yell. When she was out of sight, Melanie was still very confused about what the girl was trying to ask her...

"Well... That was interesting." Alex pointed out.

"You said it... What a girl huh?" James agreed, feeling weird about this situation.

"I have no idea what just happened there, but um... Cyllage City it is then huh Alex?" Melanie exclaimed.

She opened the map that he gave her and tried to find out where the city was located. She eventually found it and put her finger on it. Alex and James looked at the map too and they saw where the city was located at.

"Alright guys! Let's go to that city then! Off we go!" Alex announced.

He led them out of the area, and they began to look for the gate to Route 5, looking forward to the journey on the way there!


	5. Ch 5, Traveling To Cyllage City!

_**Ch. 5, Traveling To Cyllage City!**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

"Found it!" Alex spoke out.

He pointed his finger towards a large gate that had a large number "5" on top of it!

"That's Route 5 right?" Melanie asked him.

Alex nodded his head and proceeded to walk on ahead of his friends. He and his friends wanted to get to Cyllage City, but it was pretty far from Lumiose. It was along the coastline of the Western side of Kalos.

"Let's go!" Alex led his friends into the gate and they continued to follow the path.

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 4 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended**_ _ **: watch?v=YygRV5AwEGg)**_

When they finally got through the gate and made it to the other side, Route 5 looked pretty nice!

There were lots of Skaters that skated around the route, and there lots of areas with tall grass, with Pokémon in them!

"Wow, there's lots of Skaters here!" James pointed out.

Melanie took the chance to open the map, examining the info of the route on the map, and told her friends,

"Says here that this Route is a place known by lots of Skaters who gather here to show off their best skills!"

They looked over to their right hand side and saw a large Skate Park, which was filled with lots of people skating around, having the time of their lives! All three friends continued to look around while walking, enjoying the view of the place around them. Thats when a large scream came from behind them all of a sudden,

"COOMING THROOUUGH!"

Alex turned around, but he didn't have time to react! Someone collided with him and he fell over, landing pretty rough on his back on the rocky ground. Fennekin who was on his shoulder, managed to hold on tight so she wouldn't fall off.

"Hey! Watch it!" Alex shouted at whoever crashed into him, rubbing his back gently.

"FEN-KIN!" Fennekin joined him and yelled at the person.

"Sorry about that!" A feminine voice apologized to him.

He looked up and saw a tall blonde headed blue eyed girl who was wearing Skating gear all over herself. She extended her hand and he took it, getting pulled back up and he thanked her for doing that.

"Once again... I'm so sorry for running into you like that, um..." The girl apologized again.

"Alex... And it's alright, you didn't mean to. What's your name?" Alex asked.

"Me? Oh, my names Korrina! I'm trying to get back to my hometown, Shalour City!" Korrina explained why was in a sudden rush.

James examined the tall woman for quite a while, Melanie finally said,

"Shalour City? That's really far away..."

She was looking at the map and it was many miles away from Lumiose.

"Yeah I know it is, but I had to take care of something really important in Lumiose... Anyways, I really need to hurry and get back! I'm sorry for the rush after we just met, but maybe if one of you is looking for a battle, then I'll be waiting at Shalour City!" Korrina winked at them and went back to skating on ahead of them.

They watched her take off quickly, and then they continued to follow down the path. The sun was starting to set too, and all three of them noticed the sky beginning to turn orange!

"Hey um... Alex, is there any place where we can go to sleep for the night?" Melanie wondered.

She gave him back his map again and he looked around in it,

"Well, if you guys wanna keep going forward, then our next town to visit is Camphrier Town. They have a Pokémon Center there." Alex explained.

"Sounds like a plan! Maybe we can practice in the morning again for your next Gym Battle?" James offered.

"Yeah sure! Fennekin and Starly could use a warm-up before the day begins tomorrow. Too bad today went by fast..." Alex agreed.

"Yeah your right, the day did go by pretty fast..." Melanie exclaimed.

They made their way through Route 5, traveling through a large section of tall grass... and luckily, no Pokémon jumped out at them.

 ** _Five minutes later..._**

"How far until we make it!" Melanie complained after walking for a few.

"Not far-" Alex started to speak but stopped talking when they reached a short hill to climb up.

Alex and James walked up the hill easily, while Melanie fell behind a bit. She wasn't used to traveling long distances yet, so she got very tired... Then, that's when lights shined in the sky from the Town. They could see it from faraway, but it looked pretty close by! The three Trainers continued walking up the path while Alex was thinking for a bit,

"I wonder what the next Gym is going to be like... and when Fennekin will evolve."

He looked over to the happy little Pokémon on his shoulder and smiled at her. He decided to give Fennekin another twig to snack on, and she gladly took it from him!

"Fen!" Fennekin grinned at Alex while chewing on the stick.

"Maybe one day... She'll evolve, but at the same time I kinda don't want her to evolve so soon, I like her just the way she is right now!" Alex continued thinking.

He was deep in thought until Melanie bothered him politely and asked,

"Hey Alex, Do you think you could teach me how to catch a Pokémon one day?"

Alex looked at her and smiled saying,

"Sure! It isn't really that hard, but I can teach you!"

She nodded her head in agreement and continued to mind her own business, just barely surviving after climbing the hill.

 _ **A couple more minutes later...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Camphrier Town - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended**_ _ **: watch?v=c9B-2TfW3iI)**_

After what seemed like ages to them of the constant walking they had to do, they finally made it to Camphrier Town!

"We're here!" James cheered walking into the Town.

By the time they got there though, the sun was already set, and it was nighttime out. The day went by pretty quick, and the first thing they did was go to the Pokémon Center to refresh their Pokémon. The town wasn't really that big though, there were only a few houses and stone walls surrounding the village. There was also a very large building towards the back of the town too, and it looked like a royal castle back in the medieval times! There were barely any people outside, and it was pretty quiet too. Nothing but the soft quiet sounds coming from Lumiose were heard throughout the town, and they really wanted to sleep before they would head on to Route 7. When they got into the Pokémon Center, they gave Nurse Joy their Pokéballs, and she told them that she would be right back! (As usual...)l

Alex took a look at his map while James and Melanie joined him and looked at it as well!

"So when do we travel again? Cause I'm not really looking forward to walking all that much..." Melanie groaned.

"We'll start traveling again after James and I have that warm-up in the morning, alright Melanie? It won't be a while... Besides, you'll get used to it eventually." Alex reminded her.

After a couple of minutes had passed by, Nurse Joy came back with their Pokéballs as well as with Fennekin too, who was looking as happy as ever!

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" All three of them thanked her and took their Pokéballs.

"How you feeling girl?" Alex opened his arms for Fennekin to jump into.

"Ne!" Fennekin barked while jumping to her Trainer, giving him a very warming hug!

"No problem! Happy to help out, and do you guys want a room key too? To stay for the night?" Nurse Joy offered the keys to them.

All three friends nodded their heads and received the key. They thanked her once again and went off to find their room. They eventually found it and went on in, the room looked pretty much the same as last time, except it had four beds this time.

"Wow this place looks pretty nice! Nurse Joy actually lets you sleep here for free?" Melanie admired the look of the room.

"Yeah, James and I slept at a Pokémon Center yesterday night. Nurse Joy is really nice to Trainers like us! Anyways, I gotta go groom Fennekin, and maybe Starly too..." Alex explained to her while heading towards the bathroom first, and closing the door behind him.

He brought Starly's Pokéball with him, and set Fennekin down on the soft floor tiled ground below.

"Can I trust you to behave in front of Starly..." Alex asked his partner.

"Fe-nekin..." Fennekin sighed, rolling her eyes in response, just before nodding back to her Trainer.

He gave her a quick smirk, and pushed the button on the ball. As soon as he pressed it, Starly immediately came out to greet them!

"Starr-ly!" Starly's chirped happily upon seeing her Trainer, as well as her teammate.

She looked around the room and wondered where they were at, examining her surroundings curiously!

"Alright girls, time to get you both cleaned!" Alex smiled at them.

He took out Fennekin's brush from last time, and he turned the bathtub's faucet on to warm water. He gently picked up both of his Pokémon and put them into the tub together.

"How's the water? Too hot? Too cold? Is it alright for both of you?" Alex asked his Pokémon just to be sure they felt pretty comfortable with the temperature of the water.

Both of them nodded and grinned happily as they stared up at him. He decided to try something new and looked around for the Pokémon shampoo bottle. Alex eventually found the bottle and opened it, pouring a few drops of the liquid into the tub from the product, and told them to splash around gently so they wouldn't make a mess. They did just that and lots of bubbles began to fill the tub! Alex wanted them to be close together like siblings, so he tried to encourage them to play with each other by making them a good old bubble bath!

"Fen?" Fennekin tilted her head and looked around at all of the bubbles surrounding her.

She thought they would hurt her like the move "Bubble", but they didn't. They were harmless and she never experienced a bubble bath before! That's when Starly happily splashed water on her, which surprised her.

"Feenn!" Fennekin looked over at Starly and splashed water back on her in return.

They continued to splash water back and fourth at each other, and even though they were making a mess... Alex didn't mind it at all anyways, he was happy that they enjoyed it! Alex told them that he would be right back to get something really quick, so he left the two Pokémon alone.

 _ **That's when it all went wrong...**_

Alex went to go get his tooth brush and stuff for when he needed to shower, but by the time he got back to check on his two partners... The bathroom was a complete mess!

There was water everywhere, on the towels, the cabinets, the drawers, the counter on the sink! Literally EVERYWHERE! Even on the roof of the room itself!

"W-WHAT! What happened here while I was gone!" Alex shouted at them angrily.

He scared Starly and she cowered in the corner of the tub, but Fennekin however... Was giggling like an evil maniac!

"Fen-ne-kin!" Fennekin laughed at the look on her Trainer's face, he looked pretty mad!

But she stopped laughing when Alex picked her up from the tub...

"You're a little trouble maker aren't you?" Alex whispered.

She saw the brush on the bathroom sink and pointed her paw at it. Alex looked at the brush behind and smiled back when he spoke out,

"You made a mess! Now I've gotta clean it all up... You're getting brushed after Starly tonight!"

Fennekin's mouth grew wide open, she knew it was her fault... But Starly made some of the mess too, it wasn't JUST her!

"FEN-FENNEKIIIN!" Fennekin yelled back at him.

"Starly wasn't splashing as much as you did Fennekin, besides... It doesn't take long to brush you two... It literally only takes five minutes!" Alex corrected her.

She sighed in defeat, and then jumped from his arms, landing back into the tub again. But landing in the tub only made the water splash again, and even more water came flying out! Fennekin giggled again and saw the look on her Trainer's face, boy was he worse than before...

"I'll make you pay for that!" Alex mumbled to her.

He quickly picked Fennekin up and sat her down on his lap. Flipping her over so that she was on her backside, he started tickling her belly as best as he could, and she immediately burst into laughter upon contact!

"F-Fe-a! Aa! Ki!" Fennekin laughed so adorably, Alex couldn't contain himself.

He continued to do it until he got tired, Fennekin didn't even bother trying to stop it, she was enjoying herself way too much! Once Alex got tired, he put her back into the tub and laughed with her. He poured water over both of his Pokémon and they enjoyed it very much! He was surprised that Fennekin was acting calm... Fire Types don't usually like water, but Fennekin was different! She didn't act weird in anyway when she was in the fountain, or the tub at his house earlier. After they were soaking wet now, he grabbed a soft sponge and cleaned both of them, getting all the dirt off of their fur. He made sure that they were both completely cleaned off... So, he repeated it again and again and again, until they looked spotless!

"There, all done!" Alex announced.

He picked both of them up and took them out of the tub, draining the remaining water, and then grabbing a towel to dry them off. When they were completely dry, the fur on their body were sticking up like fuzzy balls! It made Alex chuckle at how they looked, then he picked up Starly first and sat her on his lap.

"Alright Starly, this won't hurt I promise!" Alex whispered to her.

He grabbed the brush off of the sink and began brushing her fur down gently, trying to make her stay calm. Meanwhile... Fennekin was busy cleaning and drying the floor with a towel herself. She did a pretty good job at it too for someone her size, and when she finally finished... She laid down and waited for Alex to finish brushing Starly.

 _ **Two minutes later...**_

Fennekin grew very impatient after waiting a while, and she yelled out,

"FEN! FENNEKIN! FEN!"

She stood up tall tall and gave Alex a killer look soon after.

"Alright! Alright! Jeez! Starly... You're all finished now!" Alex smiled at Starly's face.

She had a large grin and happily flew out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom.

"If you behave like a good girl then I'll give you a present!" Alex offered his Fennekin, looking over to her next.

Fennekin didn't have to be told twice either, she immediately jumped onto his lap and sat down staying quiet. Alex groomed her and brushed her fur down, as well as her tail too. It didn't take him very long because she stayed still and behaved like he asked her to do so.

"I gotta get a present for Starly too..." Alex thought to himself.

"Alright girl, all finished and done! Give me a minute while I go and get your present really quick!" Alex told her.

Fennekin tilted her head and wondered what he was going to give her, so she closed her eyes and stayed in the bathroom. Alex went back into the bedroom and looked into his bag for a while, luckily his Mom packed him a pretty pink bow to give to Fennekin as an accessory to wear!

"This'll be perfect for her!" Alex smiled as he picked up the brightly colored pink bow and went back into the bathroom.

He thanked his mother in his head, and came back to Fennekin who was still closing her eyes, waiting to see what would come next.

"Alright Fennekin, keep your eyes closed!" Alex commanded.

He gently put the pink bow on her forehead between her ears and chuckled to himself quietly. He couldn't help but smile at the way she looked, and told her,

"Awwh! You look adorable!"

Fennekin opened her eyes, but she didn't know what he did... She felt him touching her head, so she obviously knew he probably put something on her...

"Here, I'll pick you up so you can see yourself in the mirror!" Alex continued to give her a warm smile.

He picked her up and showed herself in front of the glass mirror. She saw her reflection and gasped at what she saw! She saw herself wearing a pink bow on top of her head and she felt the need to cry!

"Fennekin, you alright?" Alex asked, he noticed the tears starting to stream down her face, and ended up getting a little worried about her crying.

"Fen..." Fennekin shook her head and then turned around to look up at him.

"You like it at least? What's wrong?" Alex asked another question.

Fennekin wasn't crying from sadness though, she was crying from happiness! Her previous Trainer never got her any gifts, never fed her anything good, or never even made her feel loved... Alex did all of those things and she started smiling again, he got the message and rubbed her chin lightly.

"Fenne!" Fennekin cried out and started to hug him.

He didn't expect it... But he knew that she was happy!

"You like it huh?" Alex laughed.

She nodded her head and continued to hug him tightly. He accepted the hug from her and hugged her back, causing her to blush lightly.

"You look really cute now!" Alex complimented her.

She blushed even harder and he noticed it. He couldn't help it now... Seeing her blush like that just made his day! Alex always knew from the very beginning that Fennekin would be a great Pokémon to become close friends with! She looked back at the mirror and touched her bow. It really made her feel special and loved from Alex, and she was truly grateful of the gift! Then, she wondered what her next Gym Battle would be like. Maybe Starly would also participate in it as well, but only one thing mattered now... Fennekin even had a new goal to achieve too, and that goal... Is to help Alex, conquer all eight Gyms of Kalos, and to help him become the Champion of the region too! Alex yawned and then carried her out of the bathroom, and back into the bedroom.

"Bathrooms all yours guys, I'm gonna get to bed really early... I gotta train Starly and Fennekin!" Alex announced.

James and Melanie both took turns at what they needed to do in the bathroom, while Alex returned Starly back into her Pokéball for a good long rest before tomorrow. He did go to bed early too, as soon as he was done showering and changing into pajamas... But, as usual though... His Fennekin didn't want to return back into her Pokéball. Instead, she wanted to sleep next to Alex on his bed!

"Alright fine, you can sleep with me tonight girl!" Alex motioned his hand at her and gave her the message that she was allowed to do so.

She happily jumped onto the bed and Alex covered the bed sheets over both of them. Fennekin yawned and started to fall asleep until Alex interrupted her by whispering,

"You ready for tomorrow Fennekin? I think it'd be best if you train with Starly in the morning. It'll help both of you prepare for the second Gym."

"Fen..." Fennekin mumbled quietly and yawned once again.

She wrapped herself with her tail like she always did, and rested her head on it. Alex started petting her until she fell asleep. Soon after, it only took a couple of minutes for Fennekin to fall asleep immediately. Alex made sure she was completely asleep. Then, when she was... He closed his eyes and thought about coming up with new strategies to use against Gym Leaders in the future.

 _ **A few hours later...**_

It was a bright sunny day in Kalos and everyone living under the sun, were having a terrific morning! All except for Alex... He was walking down a forest path, but James and Melanie weren't with him though... That's when he threw a Pokéball into the air and Fennekin came right out in surprise. She looked around and wondered where they were at, and to top it all off... She also noticed that it was just her and Alex alone in the forested path...

"Fen?" Fennekin tilted her head sideways and was confused by Alex.

"You're probably wondering why you're here?" Alex asked her, looking calm towards her.

He gave her an angry look on his face soon after saying that, and before she could respond back... Alex interrupted her by suddenly shouting out,

"YOU DISAPPOINTED ME AGAIN! THAT WAS OUR THIRD TIME ALREADY AGAINST GRANT!"

She stopped smiling and took a step back from him... She had a look of fear on her face and saw Alex stepping towards her closer and closer by the second passing by...

"After all that training we did... You can't evolve into a Braixen! You really are a stupid weak Pokémon! You were great against Viola, but Starly did an even better job than you were doing today! Starly evolved pretty quick, but you didn't? She's already a Staravia!" Alex kept on yelling at her.

"Fenne-kin?" Fennekin started to tear up from the loud shouts coming towards her, it kind of broke her heart into pieces to hear those words, especially coming out from Alex.

He eventually made it to his Fennekin and picked her up pretty roughly, by her neck and held her up closely to his eye level. He looked at her dead in the eye and slapped her hard across her face with the back of his hand.

"You stupid little rodent! No wonder your old Trainer abandoned you, cause you're worthless!" Alex continued to speak on.

She couldn't believe that he said that to her, she already knew what was coming next... But she still hoped for the best... She never expected those words to come out of him!

"We're both done! I no longer need you anymore on my team... Just go find a different Trainer, like a little kid or something in kindergarten." Alex sighed.

He took the pink bow off of her that he gave her, and he smashed it with his foot, ripping it up, and then dropped Fennekin to the ground below them.

Fennekin's vision started to blur out a bit... With darkness surrounding her vision slowly... As if she was passing out... Everything went dark pretty slowly before she looked up again, to see him walking off the path, leaving her by herself...

"FEN!" Fennekin screamed at him, but he ignored her and continued to walk on.

She heard footsteps coming from behind her and she turned around quickly to see who it was... It was a tall person who hid his face with a weird looking dark red colored mask.

"Fenne... Kin..." Fennekin groaned in pain.

Alex slapped her pretty hard, which caused a stinging pain to form in her face...

"I told you it was going to happen eventually, you really are weak... You know that right? I'm going to enjoy selling you for a lot of money!" The masked guy mumbled to her.

Fennekin tried to get back up and run away from the person, but before she could do so... She was picked up and placed into a small cage from the person!

"FENNEKIN!" Fennekin screamed for help and tried to do her best to get out, but she couldn't.

Everything eventually went completely black in her sights, and she couldn't see anything at all... However, when Fennekin opened her eyes again, she found herself back in the same Pokémon Center bedroom, as before!

"FEN! FENNEEKIIIN!" She continued to scream her lungs out!

She woke up Alex instantly, who was sleeping next to her, and he had a huge concerned look on his face. It was just a bad dream... But it seemed so real that it terrified Fennekin to death! Alex found her shaking with fear beside him, so he tried to reach for her and bring her closer to him, but she got up and took a couple of steps back.

"FEN!" Fennekin shouted and backed away from him.

"Sshh! It's okay... Did you have a nightmare Fennekin?" Alex asked her.

Fennekin nodded her head slowly, backing away from him carefully.

"Come over here, I'll let you sleep closer to me if you want?" Alex offered her.

She agreed to do so, and she let him grab her gently. The next thing he did was give her a big hug, so that she would feel a lot better next to him.

"What was your dream about? Guess you can't really explain... But hey, don't be afraid if it has something to do with your past life. It's in the past now, just know that I will never give you away or ever be disappointed at you no matter what! I'll always keep you safe no matter what, now get to bed okay? We gotta get up early again to train!" Alex explained it all while petting her head calmly, trying to calm her down from the nightmare she had. She calmed down and eventually stopped shaking, then she decided to relax and to just simply close her eyes. She fell asleep very soon and she stayed in Alex's arms, snuggled in them.

"Goodnight girl." Alex mumbled to her while kissing her forehead.

He saw Fennekin smile from the affection he gave her, and that made him pretty happy to see that smile again. He went back to sleep and both of them couldn't wait for another day in Kalos to arrive in their journey!

The next day...

Alex and his friends were standing behind the Pokémon Center's arena. They were basically ready to go now, and James decided to help Alex train by having a double battle with him!

"Alright you two, I'm sure you both know the rules yourselves, but good luck training!" Melanie announced happily.

It was going to be a two on two battle consisting of Alex against James! Fennekin and Starly Vs. Treecko and Squirtle.

 _ **Alex Vs. James!**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Battle! Friend - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended **__**Battle!: watch?v=5zIMgjDOuew)**_

"Let the battle start! Good luck you two!" Melanie announced again, sitting on the sidelines of the arena.

Alex and James were both ready and Alex already knew who he was going to go for first. Fennekin had an advantage over Treecko, while Squirtle had it over her. Starly even had the advantage against Treecko too! James wanted to win this battle badly, he wasn't going to give up or lose. He felt confident that he could pull it off and take the win!

"Fennekin, I want you to go against Treecko. And Starly, go against Squirtle and defend Fennekin until she can take out Treecko, alright?" Alex whispered to his two partners.

Both of them agreed to do it, so Fennekin started running towards Treecko, while Starly flew at Squirtle.

"Guess he's splitting up huh? I'll show him that my Pokémon aren't weak!" James thought.

"Fennekin let's start this off with a good old Ember!" Alex commanded her.

Fennekin shot an Ember towards Treecko, but he dodged it easily, considering how fast he moved!

"Treecko, use Pound on Fennekin and stay on top of her!" James shouted out.

He had a trick up his sleeve, and he decided to pull it off early in the battle. Alex had no idea what he was going to do, but Fennekin wasn't ready for the attack either. Without hearing a command from her Trainer, Fennekin tried to run out of the way in order to dodge it in time, but Treecko had already landed on her! He used Pound and tackled Fennekin to the ground, but instead of him getting off of her... He stayed right on top, and used his weight to stop her from getting up or trying to escape! She tried to push him off of her, but the move prevented her from doing so!

James gave Alex a quick smirk before yelling another move,

"Treecko, use Leer on Fennekin! And Squirtle, Water Gun!"

"Oh no..." Alex mumbled to himself.

Treecko used Leer, decreasing Fennekin's defense, so that Water Gun could do more damage to her!

"Oh no you don't! Starly get in there and deflect the move with Wing Attack!" Alex commanded.

Starly flew towards the moving projectile and her wing shined brightly. As soon as she was in the way of the move, she used her wing to cancel out the move and the water instantly vanished!

"Nice job Starly!" Alex complimented her.

"Star!" Starly smiled and focused back to her partner, Fennekin who was still underneath Treecko.

"Fen!" Fennekin cried out for help.

Starly knew what to do, so she used Wing Attack again and hit Treecko with it as hard as she could!

"TRE-" Treecko groaned in pain, rolling off of Fennekin, and taking the heavy attack!

The move hurt him pretty badly too... Flying Type and Fire Type moves were super effective against Grass Type Pokémon. He was in a lot of trouble at this point... It was something James wasn't expecting to happen! He didn't think his plan would fail against Fennekin!

"No!" James muttered, worried about his Pokémon now, after realizing Alex had a dominance over him.

"That was a pretty good combo you tried to pull off there James, but unfortunately... I have the advantage. Now! You two! Fennekin jump onto Starly's back and ride her!" Alex shouted.

Fennekin listened to him and climbed onto Starly's back. Starly could support her considering they were both small Pokémon, so she immediately took to the skies while Fennekin held on tightly to Starly's body.

"What?!" James gasped at the sight of the two in the air.

He quickly regained focus and told Treecko to lift Squirtle up into the air, so Squirtle ran at Treecko and he pushed Squirtle up with his two hands, so that he could reach up to Starly's height at least.

"Alright Squirtle, Use Water Gun again!" James commanded him.

Squirtle attempted to shoot a Water Gun towards the pair, but sadly... Due to Starly's speed, she easily evaded the attack and continued to fly towards Treecko, igniting Squirtle!

Alex started to laugh as soon as he said,

"Fennekin and Starly, use Wing Attack and Ember!"

Starly and Fennekin were both ready to attack Treecko. James had no idea what to do at this point, so he yelled at his Treecko by quickly saying,

"Treecko, Quick Attack! Try and dodge their combo move!"

But he was too late... Starly had already hit Treecko with her wing which did massive damage against him, while Fennekin also shot an Ember too from behind! The two moves were so powerful against him, that he fainted instantly after taking the two hits...

"Treecko! Noo!" James cried out.

He looked over at Alex and eventually sighed... Alex felt proud however, James returned Treecko and then looked at Squirtle.

"Don't worry Squirtle... I got a plan! I'm not letting this battle end THAT quick!" James thought to himself.

"Alright you two! If James' Squirtle faints, then Alex wins! Good luck you two!" Melanie cheered them both on.

"I have to take out Fennekin first..." James began to think of a strategy.

Fennekin was still riding Starly, so James was pretty worried about their teaming strategy.

"Squirtle, Tackle Fennekin off of Starly!" James shouted.

Squirtle ran towards the pair and tackled Fennekin right off of Starly, coming in at a very fast speed! Fennekin was surprised from the move, not to mention that Squirtle was on top of her too, just like Treecko! James had an idea though... It was an idea that was worth trying out...

"Squirtle, don't let Fennekin escape! Go ahead and use Water Gun!" James continued to talk.

"Fennekin!" Fennekin called for help from her partner, and luckily... She did!

Starly flew towards their opponent at a great speed and used Wing Attack to knock Squirtle off! Now that Fennekin was free, she hopped onto Starly's back again and they took off back into the air!

"Ugh! Not again!" James thought, angry at the duo team against him.

His plan totally backfired, he was hoping to finish Fennekin off with a Water Type move, but his Squirtle was interrupted...

"Okay you two! Psybeam and Tackle!" Alex shouted another attack to his duo team!

Starly went ahead and hit Squirtle hard, which caused him to stumble backwards. While Fennekin shot a Pysbeam too directly at him... The two moves hurt Squirtle really bad, and he couldn't get up either. Eventually though, Fennekin jumped off of Starly, and looked at her opponent lying on the ground in complete agonizing pain.

"Sorry James... But Fennekin, finish it with Fiery Psybeam!" Alex finished giving commands.

His Fennekin didn't hesitate to do so, she went ahead and fired both of the moves, combining both of them into their combo-move! With Squirtle still lying on the ground, the move eventually hit him... And there was a huge explosion soon after that happened! Along with smoke everywhere from the big attack! James' heart was pounding, he was hoping Squirtle would be okay... But the chances of that happening... Were very low unfortunately... Once the smoke had finally cleared away, towards the center of the arena, the smoke revealed Squirtle... Fainted in defeat!

Which caused... Alex winning again!

James took a heavy sigh in defeat, taking out Squirtle's Pokéball at the same time. He returned him back inside, and then looked over to Alex, staring him down with an angry killer look.

"Someday, I'll beat you!" James mumbled slightly.

Alex continued to smiled at his two Pokémon, who were running their way back to their Trainer, happily, and cheering from the victorious win!

"You guys were great out there! Amazing job today!" Alex complimented them and petted both of them on their heads.

Starly went back into her Pokéball while Fennekin jumped up on top of Alex's head, feeling pleased to hear that from her Trainer.

"Fen!" Fennekin giggled when she saw James crossing his arms, walking up to them.

Alex noticed this and patted him on the back saying,

"I'll help you grow stronger, I know you will! You just gotta practice a bit more!"

"I guess..." James continued to groan in annoyance, rolling his eyes.

Melanie came over and congratulated both of them by saying,

"You were both pretty good! Despite the outcome of the battle, it looked like you two were having fun anyways! And that's much more important than seeing who won the battle!"

"Yeah, shall we continue traveling?" Alex offered.

"Sure..." James replied back while Melanie kept grinning at them cheerfully.

They left the area and traveled to the center of the town. Before leaving though, Alex took a closer look at the map.

"Looks like Route 7 is pretty long, you both ready to go?" Alex asked his friends.

Both of them nodded their heads and they left the town together, walking down Route 7!

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 4 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended**_ _ **: watch?v=YygRV5AwEGg)**_

Route 7 was a pretty long Route to travel, it had a large river on the side of it, as well as a huge forest and tall grass as well on the sides! All three friends stayed silent while waking though, Alex was still thinking about how he would battle in the next Gym! That's when Melanie noticed the bow that Fennekin was wearing and couldn't help but say,

"Awh! Fennekin look so cute wearing that bow! I gotta get something for Pancham too!"

"Yeah, she does look pretty cute. I also wanna get one for Starly too, they deserve one after that duo tactic they showed me." Alex agreed.

"Fenne-Kin!" Fennekin smiled and blushed from the compliments she was receiving.

James smiled as well, noticng her appearance. He went up to Alex before saying,

"Do you think she'll evolve soon?"

Alex looked up at her and started to think about it more.

"Not sure, but I know for a fact that she'll evolve eventually! Right girl?" Alex grinned at her.

Fennekin remembered her nightmare, she was scared that she wouldn't evolve before the Gym... She didn't wanna lose Alex or her other friends too...

"Fen..." Fennekin replied back, but didn't smile or seem too happy about it.

Alex noticed this and decided to carry her in his arms instead. He gently petted her head lightly and asked her,

"I know when you're upset or not feeling too well... You alright Fennekin?"

Fennekin nodded her head and continued to look forward down the road.

"What's wrong with her?" Melanie questioned Alex.

Alex turned around and decided to explain the whole story to them.

"She woke up last night from a dream that she had... It must've had to do something with her past life, too bad we can't understand what our Pokémon say... Otherwise it'd probably make us a lot closer!" Alex explained and sighed when he said that last part.

"That'd be pretty cool, if we could understand their language!" James nodded and patted his friend on the back.

They kept walking down the long road until a small building was in sight!

"What's that?" Melanie pointed her finger towards the building.

Her friends looked to see where she was pointing at, and they saw the building as well.

"Let's go check it out, come on!" Alex motioned them to speed up with him and ran on ahead.

He started running towards the entrance of it, while James and Melanie tagged along with him. When they reached the place, Alex read a small green sign that said,

"Pokémon Day Care!"

It was a small building with an orange colored roof on top, there were some small Pokémon playing behind the building too which was surrounded by a fence that kept them in.

"Pokémon Day Care?" Melanie wondered what it was.

James had the same question too. He examined the place for a bit before saying,

"I'm pretty sure people can leave their Pokémon here... They take care of your Pokémon for you, like preschool almost!"

They went closer to the fence and saw all kinds of friendly Pokémon playing with each other.

"I might come here sometime in the future, but for now... Wanna keep heading down the road?" Alex exclaimed.

Both of his friends nodded their heads and they walked past the Day Care.

 _ **A couple of minutes later...**_

All three kept walking down the route as fast as they could so that they could get across the long road...

"This Route is too long! How long until we're actually there!" Melanie complained.

"W-We've only been traveling for a few minutes! Relax, we're almost there! See look there's a large castle looking structure up ahead." Alex told her.

Alex decided not to run towards the castle so that they wouldn't be so tired. Instead, they just took their time and walked at a much slower pace.

"I wonder what that huge castle is anyways?" James wondered.

They looked at it for a second and examined it. It was a huge castle building that could be seen from miles away! All three friends arrived at the entrance to the building and noticed a sign first thing! It read,

"Battle Chateau"

"What's this?" Alex wondered curiously.

His friends were thinking the same thing, until they were interrupted by a very familiar voice coming from behind them saying,

"Alex?"

Alex turner around and saw Viola in front of him. He smiled and greeted back by saying,

"Hey Viola! What brings you here? I thought you were still staying at the gym?"

"I just came to visit the Battle Chateau, it's a great place to battle Trainers like yourself. I come here and challenge all kinds of people your age. It's really great, maybe you should come here someday and we can have a rematch?" Viola explained the building to him.

"We'll definitely have that rematch one day Viola, but right now we gotta get to Cyllage City so I can get my second Gym Badge!" Alex cheered.

"Well good luck with that! I'm looking forward to seeing that Fennekin of yours evolve! As well as new Pokémon you're going to use." Viola replied back and rubbed Fennekin's muzzle.

"F-Fenne-Kiiin!" Fennekin sneezed, and as usual... Those little embers of fire blew out of her ears!

Everyone couldn't help but smile from how cute Fennekin looked whenever she sneezed. Not to mention her blush either, it made her even more adorable!

"Cute bow by the way, it makes her look really cute!" Viola complimented his partner and continued to pet the fox her on the head.

"F-Fen..." Fennekin blushed even harder, stuttering her own words now.

"Heh... Well I guess we'll be on our way again, it was nice seeing you though Viola." Alex exclaimed.

Viola regained her focus back to the three kids and nodded her head saying,

"Indeed, it was! Bye Alex!" Viola waved goodbye while walking inside the Chateau's doors.

Alex waved goodbye as well and they continued their journey down the route once again.

"She seemed pretty nice." Melanie started to speak.

"She's a great person, she's the Gym Leader of Santalune City. We had a great battle yesterday, hopefully you guys will be there to see our rematch again." Alex agreed with her.

"Of course we will!" Both James and Melanie talked at the same time.

That's when they were almost finished with Route 7. Alex saw a large mountain up ahead, it even had stairs too! When they got up the stairs though, they saw a hole opening that looked like a cave's entrance! They stopped in front of the opening and Alex pulled the map back out again. He took a good look at where they were at and he read a short description of words that told him,

"Connecting Cave, Shortcut to Cyllage City is blocked... Use the entrance on the left side of the cave to get to Ambrette Town... The cave's pathway to Cyllage City was blocked out by a mysterious force of rocks crushing the inside of the cave's shortcut."

"It's blocked?!" Melanie shouted in disappointment.

Alex sighed, but that didn't stop him from going. He went towards the left side of the mountain and saw another opening to the cave. Upon going to the left side, there was also a sign that told them,

"Connecting Cave, shortcut to Route 8, and Ambrette Town."

Alex looked back at the map again and saw the location of Ambrette Town...

"Looks like we're going to need to travel even farther to get to Cyllage City guys..." Alex reminded them.

"Let's just go and get it over with then." James groaned, annoyed by the news.

They entered the cave soon after he said that, and once they got into the mountain, they couldn't see anything inside of it! All they heard were creepy sounding Zubat cries throughout the cave, echoing on down back and fourth. Alex found a stick on the ground beside them, along with an idea forming inside of his head! The stick would be very useful to them, so Alex decided to use it anyways!

He looked down at Fennekin who was sleeping in his arms. He woke her up slowly and asked her,

"Fennekin can you light this stick for us?"

Fennekin opened her eyes and saw the large stick Alex was holding. She shot an Ember at it and the stick caught on fire.

"Nice job girl! Now we can use this for light." Alex thanked her.

"Feeeeeen!" Fennekin stretched her back and then fell asleep again.

When they had light, it revealed tons of Zubats above them on the roof of the cave.

"Oh jeez! Quiet guys... Don't make a sound. We wouldn't want to wake them up!" James whispered to his two friends.

"You're right, let's just find a way out quick!" Melanie told them.

They walked quietly through the large dark cave and couldn't see anything. When they turned around, they didn't see the entrance that they came from. They continued to walk on and ignored the Zubats. They were all asleep so they didn't have to worry about them.

"Imagine if they all woke up..." Alex sighed.

"We'd be in real trouble then." Melanie mumbled.

But that's when it all happened...

"Hey wait! I see something ahead!" James shouted.

"JAMES!" Alex yelled at him.

But it was too late... The Zubats woke up and they immediately flew towards them, shocked from the loud yelling James just did!

"Oh no! What do we do!" Melanie screamed, panicking from the Zubats.

"There's only one thing we can do! We fight them!" Alex replied.

"Come on out Squirtle!" James shouted and threw a Pokéball into the air.

Squirtle came out fully alert from his Trainer's shout.

"Fennekin wake up! We're in big trouble!" Alex shook Fennekin slightly and she eventually woke up angry at him.

"F-FENNEKIIIIIIN!" Fennekin screamed at him for waking her up.

She was about to shoot a small Ember at him but he interrupted her by saying,

"OKAY! OKAY! I'M SORRY! THERE'S ZUBATS THOUGH!"

Fennekin turned her head to look behind them and saw the horde of Zubats coming towards them. She shot a Psybeam towards them, along with Squirtle shooting a Water Gun too. The two moves collided and made an explosion. The huge impact made a loud sound which scared off the rest of the Zubats. When the cave Pokémon fled from the group, they sighed in relief.

"Alright, now let's get outta here. You two were great by the way!" Alex complimented both Pokémon.

Fennekin jumped back into Alex's shoulder while Squirtle did the same to James. There was light coming from the other side of the tunnel. They left the torch behind and proceeded to move on.

 _ **A couple of minutes later...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 8 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=4H5Z32axj-g)**_

They finally got outside and they made it past Connecting Cave! The group looked around and saw quite a view from where they were at! They were on top of a cliff! They could see the huge ocean up ahead, as well as the beaches too. Alex looked back at his map and walked ahead of them. He looked over to their left and saw the next town up ahead!

"We're gonna have to travel to Ambrette Town, after that we can rest there for a bit before going to Cyllage City." Alex explained to them.

"Good idea, I need to take a quick rest there anyways... I'm sure we can stock up on supplies." James agreed.

"Supplies like what?" Melanie wondered.

"You know... For when we travel on long routes like this. I'll have to get us tons of food, you can cook right guys?" James answered.

Alex shook his head while Melanie nodded happily saying,

"I can try and cook for us, my mom and I always made food together at home!"

"That's great, looks like we don't have to worry about that then huh?" Alex chuckled to himself.

They all laughed together before looking around to see where they were going next.

"The towns just to our left guys, let's go!" Alex announced.

All three friends made their way past the route. They were excited to see what the next town would offer, so they walked faster than usual. There were tons of rocks everywhere and they had a great view of the beautiful ocean as well!

"What a view huh?" Melanie exclaimed, amazed by it.

She looked over to her right and saw the clear blue water shining from the sun. Both Alex and James nodded their heads in agreement. It was truly a sight that they had!

"You guys have sleeping bags and stuff right? If not, then you can always buy stuff in the next town." Alex asked them.

"I have to buy one..." James sighed.

"And I have to buy the food and stuff for us and our Pokémon." Melanie joined in.

Alex then remembered the gift he got Fennekin. He noticed that Starly didn't have one either, so he might as well buy something for her at least. As they made their way through the route, they stumbled upon very small tall grassy spots, but there were no Pokémon around. It was an empty route... There was absolutely nothing on it, besides just that... That's when they made it to a large gap to jump over. It was a large gap too, if someone fell down it... They'd probably get badly injured from the height that they were at! They took turns jumping over it. Fennekin jumped over it first as well as Pancham too. Then, Alex leaped over it, and James did it without struggling too.

"Melanie, can you jump over that?" Alex questioned her.

"Y-Yeah... I can try." Melanie replied nervously, with her heart pounding slightly.

She didn't like heights or dangerous situations, but having the thought of falling and getting hurt only made it more worse for her to think about... She took a running start instead, and was ready to jump over the gap.

 ** _But..._**

She didn't notice a small rock in her way and she stumbled over it, tripping from it! She freaked out and lost balance, so she fell forward and looked down to see the long gap below her!

"Melanie!" Alex shouted out.

"Cham!" Pancham cried.

Alex predicted that this would happen, so he saved her by grabbing onto her hand as quickly as he could. She was hanging off of the cliffside now, hanging on for dear life. She was never touched by a boy before so she blushed hard from the sudden contact!

"Don't let me go!" Melanie started to cry in fear and shock.

"Come on, James help me pull her up!" Alex called for help.

James quickly rushed over and grabbed her as well. The two boys pulled her up quickly and she eventually got back onto the ground with them! They all sighed in relief that nothing bad happened to her.

"T-Thanks you two..." Melanie thanked them and sat on the ground for a bit.

Pancham immediately ran towards her and jumped into her arms, giving her a tight hug.

"P-Pancham Pan!" Pancham cried for her.

"I'm alright Pancham... No need to worry about me." Melanie whispered to him and rubbed his head.

"Pan..." Pancham closed his eyes and continued to hug her back.

"You good now Melanie?" Alex made sure if she was alright.

"Y-Yeah, let's keep going." Melanie blushed when she saw his worried face.

"That was too close... We're never doing that again!" James exclaimed.

Alex offered his hand to her again to pull her back up to her feet. She looked at him for a moment before blushing once again! She calmly took his hand and he pulled her back up with ease!

"Thanks Alex, ready to go now?" Melanie asked them.

Alex and James nodded and they continued to move on together. When they finally got past the tall grassy spots and rocky paths blocking their way, they eventually made it to the end of the route and they spotted Ambrette Town up ahead! All three of them got very excited, so they ran towards the entrance of the town!

Sure enough, they made it!

 _ **Play Song!: (Aquacorde Town - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=0uEHDAIKIbk)**_

"Welcome to Ambrette Town, this town was only known for its aquarium until the discovery of rare fossils really put it on the map!" A sign explained the town's info, welcoming them!

"Fennekin and I are going to go and look for a present to give to Starly, you guys can do whatever and we'll meet back here okay?" Alex explained the plan.

Melanie and James nodded their heads and went off to buy supplies that they needed for future camps. On the other hand, Alex went to look around for clothing store. He found the perfect place too, there was a booth that had tons of Pokémon accessories all around it! Alex went up to the booth and a tall young lady greeted him by saying,

"Hey there young one! What can I do for you?"

"Um... Hi! I'm just looking for the perfect accessory to give to my Starly, got any suggestions?" Alex wondered.

"Well, Starly are Flying Types... So you should get something like a scarf or a bandana! It'll make your Starly look really cool and intimidating towards opponents!" The lady suggested.

There was a lot of accessories to choose from! Scarfs, Bandanas, Glasses, Earings, heck... You name it! Fennekin took a look at the options that were there, and she found the perfect one, shouting out,

"Fen!"

She caught his attention and then pointed her paw towards a brightly orange scarf with white colored striped lines across the fabric's design!

"That does look pretty nice, great pick Fennekin!" Alex petted her lovingly and thanked her.

"I'll buy this one!" Alex told the lady, showing her the scarf.

"Okay! Good choice! I'm sure your Starly will love this!" The lady rung him up on the register.

"Thanks! I hope she will!" Alex smiled back.

He gave her the money that it costed him and walked away to a nearby bench to sit at! Alex took out Starly's Pokéball and brought her out! In a matter of seconds, Starly instantly came out and tilted her head, she wondered what Alex wanted from her.

"Hey Starly, remember when I gave Fennekin her bow? Well I got you a gift too! Close your eyes though alright!" Alex happily told her.

Starly obeyed him and closed her eyes, feeling Alex wrapping something around her neck.

"Alright you can open your eyes now!" Alex commanded.

Once again Starly listened to his command, and looked down to see what he put on her. The orange scarf was wrapped around her neck completely and she adored it once she saw it!

"S-Starly!" Starly chirped at her Trainer and flew around his head in joy!

"Heh, glad you like it! Maybe they'll be good luck charms for when we actually battle the next Gym Leader." Alex laughed.

Both of his Pokémon smiled at their Trainer, from the gifts he gave them. They enjoyed wearing the two items! And it definitely felt good to them, knowing he truly did care about them!

"I'm glad you guys are traveling with me on my journey. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Fennekin. And you too Starly, I'm gonna have you go first against our next Gym battle!" Alex continued to speak.

"Fe?" Fennekin sighed and looked a bit disappointed to hear that from him.

"I know you wanna go first, but I gotta train Starly too! The better I train both of you, the stronger we'll become as a team. Hopefully we'll make it to the league... Anyways, I'm sure you'll evolve soon Fennekin!" Alex tried to cheer her up.

Fennekin understood and stopped worrying about it, shrugging it off. She climbed up on Alex's shoulder again and licked his face! Meanwhile, Starly didn't want to go back into her Pokéball either, so she rested on top of Alex's other shoulder instead!

"Alright then, let's go see that Aquarium. Maybe Melanie and James are finished buying their stuff." Alex exclaimed.

And so... Alex walked over to the other side of the town, and waited for a bit.

 _ **Moments later...**_

It didn't really take long since he decided to kill the time off by staring at the beautiful sight of the ocean beside the town!

"Alex!" A voice called from behind them.

He turned around and saw Melanie running up to him.

"What's up?" Alex asked her.

"James and I already finished buying the camping supplies that we needed, Pokémon food, sleeping bags, tents, and even food for us to eat too." Melanie answered back proudly.

"Good! We'll be all set then!" Alex smiled back at her.

Alex couldn't help but notice that her adorable little Pancham was wearing cute little blue sunglasses on his forehead!

"Nice shades Pancham!" Alex complimented the small Panda-like Pokémon and rubbed his head, smiling down at him!

"Pan-cham!" Pancham had a large smile on his face, after hearing that compliment.

James made his way back towards the group and greeted Alex by saying,

"I noticed that awesome scarf around Starly! Pretty sweet!"

"Yeah, Now both of my Pokémon have something to wear. Anyways, you guys ready to hit the road again? We have to get past the Aquarium though." Alex asked just to be sure.

"Yeah sure, let's go!" Melanie answered back happily.

The three friends walked towards the Aquarium, and they went inside! There wasn't much to look at though, there were mostly Magikarp and Feebas in the Pokémon Fish Tanks.

"Wow, look at all of the Pokémon in this place!" Melanie pointed out, admiring the Water Type fish.

"Yep, I heard that Magikarp and Feebas can evolve into powerful Pokémon, but they take forever to evolve sadly..." Alex agreed with her.

They saw a set of stairs beside them and they went down them. The Aquarium wasn't really that big to be honest... They already reached the end and they saw a large golden Magikarp statue at the exit!

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 8 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=4H5Z32axj-g)**_

The three Trainers left the place and saw the beach along the mountain-side that they were on.

"Alright guys let's go!" Alex cheered.

His friends smiled and nodded their heads, following him in the process. He led them through the beach and they enjoyed the sight that they had. The clear blue ocean water was quite amazing to look at, they saw other fish Pokémon swimming in the ocean too, Pokémon like Clauncher, Starmie, Tentacool, and even Wailmer drifting above the ocean's surface. There were even small noises coming from Alex's Pokédex, signifying that the Dex was recording all of the Pokémon's info into its database! Not to mention the Wingull flying above them in the air too! Then, thats when James noticed the cliff that they were just on earlier, the cliff where Melanie almost fell off of...

"You know... Don't try and attempt something that you can't do... Like that cliff opening we had to jump over." James reminded her.

Melanie had an angry look on her face and shouted at him saying,

"Don't remind me!"

"Calm down Melanie, it was an accident..." Alex patted her on the back, trying to calm her back down.

She looked back over to him and blushed lightly.

"Y-yeah, t-thanks for helping me out there." She thanked him.

They were suddenly interrupted though when Fennekin's ears started to twitch a bit. She knew something was coming towards their direction, so she looked around until she saw something falling from the sky above them!

"FEN!" Fennekin screamed out and looked up at the small moving projectile.

Alex looked up immediately to see what she was trying to tell him, and he saw the object too! Then, he took a closer look at it before he knew what it was... And sure enough, it was a Pokémon egg!

"Oh no!" Alex yelled out loud, worried that the egg would be harmed from the huge fall!

He ran as fast as he could and dived to catch the egg so that it wouldn't break, luckily though... He made it just in time and the egg was safely caught into his hands!

"Phew... Nice job seeing that Fennekin!" Alex sighed in relief

His friends ran up to him to see what the egg looked like and they were immediately shocked from it too!

"Why did it fall from the sky?" James questioned it.

"It probably rolled off the cliff or something above us... But I don't know if we can return it back to it's parents, or if it even has any parents at all!" Alex answered back.

All of them looked back up on the cliff and tried to look for any Pokémon that could've dropped the egg, but there were none to be found...

"I don't think this Pokémon even has parents! That, or maybe it was abandoned..." Alex sighed, confused about what to do with it next.

"Well if it doesn't have parents, then we should keep it right? So we can hatch it... But it sure does look adorable though!" Melanie pointed out.

The egg was brown colored, while the middle of it had a large zigzag creamy color to it as well!

"I wonder what Pokémon this'll hatch into? Have any of you guys seen an egg like this before?" Alex wondered more about it.

Both Melanie and James shook their heads, they had no idea either...

"You should keep it dude! You never really see any different colored Pokémon eggs, so this might be a rare one!" James told him.

"Are you sure? Melanie, do you want it?" Alex asked her next.

"Um... No thanks, you're the one who saw it first. Plus I'm not really good at raising Pokémon eggs, they take forever to hatch..." Melanie replied back.

"Alright, I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's going to be joining us soon then!" Alex smiled and held onto the egg real close to his chest.

"Heh... Yeah, I can't wait to see it hatch!" James agreed with him.

All three of them smiled at each other... Then, after a while of examining the egg some more, they continued walking along the beach.

 ** _Five minutes later..._**

Alex continued looking at his map to make sure they were going the right way, while he kept thinking more about the egg that he just found.

"Maybe it'll hatch into a Zigzagoon? But, then the egg would be more striped right?" Alex thought to himself.

That's when Starly decided to help them out by flying up high into the air so that she could get a farther view of the next city ahead! Then, after that, Alex looked over at Fennekin soon after.

"Hey girl, you like your new bow?" Alex grinned at her.

Fennekin blushed lightly again and hugged him on his head as another "Thank you!".

"You know you're really cute right?" Alex chuckled and tickled her nose.

She sneezed yet again when he did that to her, and she blushed even harder than before! Alex couldn't help it now, he always liked seeing her blush, and her smile too! Something about it made his heart feel warm on the inside!

"You're gonna evolve soon Fennekin, I just know it! You're gonna be a great fighter when it comes to battling! I'm so glad I chose you as my starter!" Alex whispered into her ear.

"Fenne! Fe? Kin." Fennekin talked back to him.

"I wish I could be able to understand you too... Hey, how about this! For lunch, I'll be sure to get you anything you want! The spiciest food we can find huh? Just for you." Alex offered her.

Fennekin started wagging her tail again and she nodded her head back in response. Alex didn't understand her language, but at least he had a pretty good idea of what she was trying to tell him! Sometimes...

"Guess we'll have that third Pokémon on our team! We'll be sure to train it hard right? We're gonna aim for the Pokémon League together!" Alex exclaimed in determination.

The egg in his hands began to shake a bit, but then it stopped shaking back and fourth right away! Alex gasped after feeling it move around in his arms, and then whispered to Fennekin saying,

"Did you see that Fenny? I felt the egg move just a second ago!"

Fennekin nodded her head and continued to smile at her enthusiastic looking Trainer! She couldn't wait either to see who her new teammate would be!


	6. Ch 6, A Rocking Gym Battle!

**_Ch. 6, A Rocking Gym Battle!_**

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

 _ **Play Song!: (Cyllage City - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=NXu8L0DWczs)**_

After traveling through the long beachside of Route 8, Alex and his friends finally reached the next town! Alex continuously kept checking on the egg that he found, but it only shook once and that was when he was talking to Fennekin earlier.

"Thanks for searching ahead for us Starly!" Alex petted his Pokémon's head and she chirped back happily.

"Starlyyy!" Starly cheered.

"Hey um Alex..." James started to speak to him.

Alex turned around to face James and asked him,

"What's up buddy?"

"Is it alright if I go and explore on ahead? I wanna battle other wild Pokémon and train too! Good luck with your Gym Battle though!" James finished speaking and he immediately ran off into the city.

"Well... Guess Pancham and I are going to have to cheer you on then huh?" Melanie grinned happily.

"Pancham! Pan!" Pancham had a huge smile on his face and agreed with her.

"That'll be alright with me! He didn't even give me a chance to speak back... But now, where's that Gym located at?" Alex questioned her.

"How am I suppose to know!" Melanie argued back.

Alex laughed at her comment and then looked around the city. He pulled out his Pokédex and read info about the city next.

"A city nestled between the cliffs and the sea, overlooked by steep Bicycle racecourses!"

"Okay Melanie, let's go and find that Gym!" Alex offered.

She nodded her head and followed him. The city wasn't as big as Lumios, but there were still many buildings and walkways filled with tons of People and Pokémon!

"O-Okay um..." Alex mumbled to himself.

He looked for a map of the town or routes that could help him locate the gym, but he couldn't find any at all!

 _ **Ten minutes later...**_

"Hey Alex..." Melanie spoke softly.

"Yeah?" Alex turned around and faced her.

"You look pretty tired carrying that egg around. Can I hold it for a bit, while you search?" Melanie wondered curiously.

"Sure, but be really careful with it! If you damage the egg in anyway or-" Alex began to speak but he was cutoff by Melanie saying,

"I know! I know! The Pokémon inside could get hurt as well. Trust me! I've taken lessons before on how to hatch and raise a newborn Pokémon!"

Alex raised his eyebrow and he was surprised to hear that.

"You did?" He asked her, just to be sure.

"Yeah, with my Pancham. I remember the day he came out of his egg! But I had a little trouble raising him because he was always so hyper and energetic!" Melanie laughed.

Pancham blushed heavily and looked away. Alex took a quick glance at his Fennekin and grinned wide at her.

"Sounds a lot like Fennekin here..." Alex smiled.

Now it was Fennekin's turn to feel embarrassed... Pancham stared at her for a second, but when she noticed him and looked back at him, he turned his head around quickly, feeling humiliated in front of her.

"Melanie, I trust you alright?" Alex handed the egg to her and she carefully took it from him.

"Woah! You're right, this thing feels pretty heavy than an ordinary egg. That must mean that it's close to hatching soon!" Melanie told him.

"Thanks for carrying it for me, wanna keep going on ahead?" Alex asked her.

Melanie nodded her head and both of them continued to search for a pathway to the Gym.

Another couple of minutes passing by...

"Alright I give up! I can't find any directions or signs anywhere!" Melanie complained even more.

She felt Alex tap her shoulder from behind and she turned around to face him.

"I found the directions to the Gym... I didn't notice that there were map booths of the city everywhere around us..." Alex sighed.

He held a city map in his hands and he opened it up.

"Let's see here... Ah hah! There it is!" Alex exclaimed cheerfully.

He started walking towards another street route that led them towards the outer part of the city. After a while though, Alex came to a sudden stop, making Melanie confused.

"Now what?" Melanie wondered.

"Says here that the Gym should be located on top of that cliff up there!" Alex pointed up towards the cliffside.

Melanie's eyes widened when she heard the word "Cliff".

"I hope I don't have to climb up there while holding this thing, otherwise I might drop it!" Melanie groaned at him.

"Don't worry about it though, there's stairs that lead up to it. Come on let's go!" Alex went towards the left side of the cliff, and found a set of stairs that led up to it.

As they finally reached the top of the cliff, they could see the entire city from where they were standing!

"Wow! So beautiful!" Melanie gazed at the sight.

"Yeah it sure is!" Alex agreed with her and stood closer next to her.

That's when he heard footsteps coming from behind them. He quickly turned around and saw someone approaching them.

"Are you two here for the Bicycle race?" He asked them.

The man had a dark skin color, and he was wearing gear that would probably be used to climb walls!

"What Bicycle race?" Alex questioned him.

"There was a Bicycle race that just ended a while ago, I took first place. But allow me to give you this Hidden Move, Strength." The man offered Alex the HM device.

"Um... What's it do?" Alex asked.

"It's a Hidden Move that can be used to teach any of your Pokémon the move Strength. It's very useful for pushing large boulders out of the way when you're exploring caves or rocky valleys.

"Gee thanks a lot! Wait... I've seen you before." Alex exclaimed.

He took the HM from the guy and put it into his bag, and he recognized him too.

"You're from that one photo that Viola showed me yesterday! Are you..." Alex continued to speak.

"If you're wondering if I'm a Gym Leader, then yes... I am! I'm the Gym Leader of Cyllage City, Grant! Nice to meet you!" Grant introduced himself.

"My names Alex, and these are my two partners Fennekin and Starly!"

"Fennekin!" Fennekin happily greeted back.

"Starly!" Starly chirped joyfully and flew around Grant.

"I'm Melanie, and this is Pancham!" Melanie introduced herself next.

"Pan-cham!" Pancham waved at him.

Grant smiled and noticed the egg in her hands.

"Hey! That's a rare Pokémon egg!" Grant pointed out, surprised to see it.

"We were thinking that, we found it earlier though along Route 8. It fell from a high cliff, so I caught it and decided to keep it." Alex explained it all.

"Do you know what Pokémon it'll hatch into?" Melanie asked Grant.

"It's really easy to tell what type of Pokémon it'll be. It has that large zigzag pattern on the middle of it. That means that it's going to hatch into an Eevee!" Grant told them.

"An Eevee? What's an Eevee?" Alex talked back.

"Eevee are really rare Pokémon, you can only find them around Cyllage City, but I couldn't find one earlier. You should feel pretty darn lucky to find an egg of it's species." Grant continued to speak on.

Alex pulled out his Pokédex and scanned the egg with it.

"This egg is considered to be rare because it'll evolve into an Eevee." The Pokédex told everyone the info about it.

Alex face palmed himself because he didn't know that you could use the Pokédex to scan eggs...

"Yeah see! You'll have a lot of fun having an Eevee on your team. They can evolve into lots of different kinds of Eeveelutions." Grant said.

"What's an Eeveelution?" Melanie replied back.

"I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions, but please... Follow me into my Gym, and I'll be glad to answer all of them." Grant offered them.

He walked off and headed towards the cave entrance of the Gym.

"Wait! Can I challenge you to a Gym Battle after?" Alex shouted at him.

Grant stopped walking and turned around. He started to laugh and yelled back,

"Viola already told me about you Alex, and the answer to your question is yes!"

Alex smiled and nodded his head, he and Melanie followed Grant into his Gym. When they got inside, the first thing that came to view was a giant rock climbing wall, along with a huge waterfall behind the structure!

"So what's an Eeveelution again?" Alex asked yet again.

"Well, Eeveelution is just a nickname everyone calls Eevee's evolutions. You see Alex, Eevee are very special because they can evolve into eight different types of Pokémon!" Grant answered.

"That sounds pretty cool! When do you think the egg will hatch?" Melanie wondered.

"Not sure, but if you walk around with it a lot, then it'll hatch fast! Now... Since you're going to be challenging me Alex, you have a choice. See this big wall next to us?" Grant explained.

Alex looked up and examined the look of the wall, it was large and there were some spots that he could climb onto so that he could reach the summit of the wall.

"Yeah, what do I do?" Alex said.

"If you wanna challenge me, you're gonna have to climb this wall and get to the top! But if you don't want to then it's okay, there's an elevator on the other side." Grant told him what to do.

"I'll choose climbing, Fennekin and Starly. Why don't the both of you go on the elevator with Melanie and Pancham. I'll be up there as soon as I can!" Alex exclaimed.

His Pokémon jumped off of his shoulders and they followed Grant to the elevator.

"Well then, I'll be waiting for you at the top! Good luck Alex." Grant wished him luck and then walked away with his friends.

Alex examined the wall some more before thinking on where to go. He walked up to it slowly and thought for a bit.

"Well, guess I'll have to do it right?" Alex thought to himself.

He started climbing the wall very carefully, putting one foot on another rock at a time. That's when he saw everyone up there looking down at him, he felt a bit rushed now... That didn't really stop him though, he continued to climb the wall until he reached a quarter of the way up there!

"Almost there Alex!" Grant shouted from above.

"You can do it!" Melanie cheered him on.

He looked up and saw Fennekin and Starly cheering for him too. He felt more determined to get to the top all of a sudden! Then, he stared leaping from rock to rock and made his way towards the top very quickly. He was now halfway up the wall, he looked down and saw how high he was from the ground.

"Okay... Just don't look down." Alex mumbled to himself, nervously.

He continued to slowly move up the rocky wall, and he was getting closer and closer to the top with every step. But then, he looked down and started getting really nervous by the second. He lost his balance and his foot slipped on a small rock he was on! Everyone gasped when they saw him slip off!

"Gah! Oh no!" Alex yelled out.

"Alex!" Melanie screamed, scared for him.

Alex tried to jump for the edge of the wall, but he couldn't reach it! That's when his Pokémon grabbed his hand along with Melanie as well. They quickly pulled him up and helped him out!

"Thanks guys..." Alex sighed in relief when he finally reached the top.

"I'm sorry about that happening to you, but hopefully our battle will be great! I wish you good luck when you're challenging me today Alex." Grant gave him a smirk and walked across the battlefield.

"I'll stay along the sides and make sure the egg is safe. We wanna meet that Eevee huh?" Melanie smiled.

"Heh, yeah I can't wait to see what it'll look like, but knowing that it can evolve into eight different types seems really exciting!" Alex replied back.

"Yep! Do you have a plan to beat Grant? I haven't seen your first Gym Battle yet, so hopefully this battle will be quite the show!" Melanie agreed with him.

"Yeah, Starly's going to go first. Then, If Starly faints... I'll try and use Fennekin for combo moves, like Psybeam and Ember together as one! But, yeah I'm a bit nervous because Fennekin has a disadvantage towards Rock Types... I'm pretty sure Grant is using Rock Pokémon! And Starly, I'm not so sure if she's weak to Rock Types or not, but I'll try my best!" Alex explained.

"Sounds great! Good luck Alex!" Melanie wished him luck and walked off to the side with the egg in her hands.

Pancham turned around and faced Fennekin. He winked at her and said,

"Pan! Pancham!"

Fennekin blushed lightly and smiled back at him. Pancham followed Melanie soon after, and Alex put both of his Pokémon onto the ground below him.

"Alright you two, this is our long awaited Gym Battle! It doesn't matter if we lose or win because in the end, I know you both tried your best! Starly, are you ready to go first?" Alex whispered to them.

Starly nodded her head happily and flew off in front of Alex, landing perfectly to face towards Grant.

"We're ready to battle you Grant!" Alex shouted across the arena.

"Okay Alex, here's my first Pokémon!" Grant yelled back.

He threw a Pokéball into the air and an Onix came right out. The Onix was really big too compared to Starly's size!

 _ **Battle begin! Alex vs. Leader Grant!**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Battle! Gym Leader - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=JWpCQ-t6RLU)**_

"What's that Pokémon?" Alex thought to himself.

He pulled his Pokédex out and scanned the huge Pokémon really quickly!

"Onix, the Rock and Ground Type Snake-like Pokémon. Onix usually lives underground. It searches for food while burying it's way through the ground at 50 miles per hour! This Pokémon also intimidates opponents with its own size." The Pokédex spoke to Alex.

"As a Gym Leader, I'll let you go first." Grant started to speak again.

"O-Okay Starly, here's the plan. We won't attack yet because that'll just leave you as an open target. We'll trick Onix by your quick speed. That Pokémon will never be able to hit you if you constantly fly around fast got it?" Alex whispered to his Starly.

"Star!" Starly nodded her head in agreement and flew high up.

"Starly, let's start this off by using Growl!" Alex commanded her first.

She let out a loud Growl that could be heard throughout the room, and Onix was affected by it immediately!

"Onix, use Rock Polish!" Grant shouted back.

The Rock Polish move was used, and a bright shiny light coated Onix's rocky body.

"Go ahead and use Wing Attack!" Alex yelled.

Starly's wing glowed white and she flew as fast as she could towards her opponent. Grant allowed Starly to hit his Onix, but the attack did absolutely nothing to the giant Pokémon!

"W-What?" Alex gasped in shock.

He didn't know how the attack failed, so he looked at Grant who was grinning at him.

"Alex, you should know by now that Starly is a Flying Type. Flying Types are weak against Rock Types! Now, Onix! Use Flash Cannon!" Grant exclaimed.

Onix quickly opened his mouth and shot a large beam of light towards Starly at the speed of light.

"Dodge it Starly!" Alex told her.

Thanks to her speed though, Starly got out of the way just in time! And she looked back at Alex and nodded her head at him.

"Good job with that dodge! Try using Quick Attack rapidly now!" Alex continued speaking.

Starly flew in circles above Onix and swirled around his head. Next, she went ahead and started hitting Onix without stopping herself for a short break.

"No big deal at all, Onix get her off of you by using Iron Tail." Grant said.

Onix's tail turned into solid Iron and he immediately jumped up into the air.

"Starly try and dodge it again!" Alex shouted at his Pokémon.

Starly tried to fly away as fast as she could, but Onix's Rock Polish allowed him to gain more speed! Unfortunately... Onix was equal to her speed now, and he slammed her down with his tail as hard as he could!

"LLYY!" Starly screamed in pain as her body flew back down onto the rough ground.

"Starly no!" Alex yelled out loud.

She fell back to the ground and laid there for a while. Not only did the attack hurt her, but the impact from the ground hurt affected her as well. Alex began to worry now, he felt bad for her as well as guilty for putting her through this.

"Starly, I know you can still fight! Don't give up just yet okay?" Alex tried to encourage her.

"Fennekinnn!" Fennekin cheered her on as well.

Starly opened her eyes and looked back at Alex and Fennekin, she got up really slow and eventually stood up to face Onix again.

"That's my Starly!" Alex cheered.

She shook herself to get the dirt from the ground off of her, and flew up high again with an angry look on her face.

"Just so you know, my teams pretty tough, so don't expect us to fall down so easily!" Alex laughed.

Grant gave him a smirk and shook his head in disbelief.

"Viola told me about your Fennekin. Now I'll tell her about your Starly. If your Starly can beat my Onix, then I must say... You do have a strong team!" Grant replied back.

"Thanks! Now Starly, let's go for another Growl!" Alex commanded.

"Starlyyyyy!" Starly growled at Onix and once again, he was affected by the move.

"Onix, use Rock Polish one more time!" Grant said.

Once again, Onix used the move and his speed increased dramatically. That's when Alex noticed Starly flying back and fourth rapidly. He saw images of Starly appearing around her, except they looked real!

"What's that?" Alex thought.

Now, there were more Starly in the sky!

"Is that a new move?" Alex mumbled to himself curiously, examining what Starly was doing.

He pulled out his Pokédex and checked Starly's moves, reading,

"Quick Attack, Double Team, Growl, and Wing Attack."

"Yes, She learned Double Team! That's gonna help us out a lot." Alex thought.

Grant's Onix saw many Starly above him. Both of them couldn't tell where the real Starly was in the group of clones!

"Go for it Onix! Rock Tomb now!" Grant shouted.

Onix immediately summoned many rocks around him and he threw them all towards the group of Starly quickly by using his tail to hit the rocks at them. Luckily though, thanks to Starly's speed... She was able to dodge the rocks as well as her own clones too!

"Alright Starly use Quick Attack!" Alex yelled.

Starly flew down along with her army of clones and she attacked Onix rapidly.

"Quickly Onix! Try and find the real Starly by using Flash Cannon." Grant told Onix what to do.

As soon as Starly finished attacking Onix, the Flash Cannon came at her with great speed. She dodged it easily though, but unfortunately... Her Double Team clones got hit from the attack, and all of them disappeared instantly!

"Starly, Quick Attack again!" Alex continued.

"Oh no you don't! Use Rock Tomb and aim for her wings!" Grant interrupted him.

Starly went ahead for a Quick Attack, but she didn't have the time to dodge when Onix hurled more rocks at her. One of the rocks hit her wing and she flew away from the impact.

"S-STAA!" Starly screamed from the pain that she was in.

She fell down and landed on the ground hard again... Starly looked over to her right and saw her wing damaged from the attack. She tried to move it again, but she had trouble doing so.

"Starly!" Alex yelled out loud.

"Finish her off with a Flash Cannon!" Grant shouted at his Onix.

Within seconds, Onix already shot the move towards Starly. All she could do was try to move out of the way by dragging herself, but she couldn't do it in time... The projectile eventually hit her and a large explosion occurred from it! Alex heard her scream though in pain from the attack, so he rushed over to her, picking her up gently off the ground.

"Starly... You okay girl?" Alex whispered to her quietly.

Starly opened her eyes slowly and shook her head as a "No". Then, she started to cry a bit while looking away in the process.

"Hey, don't cry... You did pretty good out there for your first Gym Battle! Besides, I'll make you a deal. I'll try and help you evolve soon real quick okay? You'll only get stronger Starly, I just know it!" Alex continued speaking to her.

Starly continued to cry though, she was disappointed by the outcome of the battle. She just stayed there laying in Alex's hands, then she looked up at him directly in the eye.

"Fennekin will finish the job for you okay? Don't cry... Take a good rest though!" Alex spoke softly.

Starly whipped her tears away and then nodded her head. Alex returned her back into her Pokéball, then he looked back at Fennekin.

"Ready Fennekin?" Alex asked her.

"Fen-ne-kin!" Fennekin cheered happily, running her way in front of her Trainer to face Onix next!

"It's too bad that your Starly couldn't beat my Onix, but she lasted longer than an average Starly would. Now I get to see that strong Fennekin of yours!" Grant shouted from across the arena.

"We aren't going to give up that early, right girl?" Alex exclaimed.

"Fen!" Fennekin agreed with him and nodded her head.

"Alright, use Tail Whip!" Alex started off.

Fennekin ran towards her opponent as fast as she could to use the attack on him, but Onix's Rock Polish allowed him to dodge very easily.

"Great job Onix! Now it's time for our combo strategy! Trap Fennekin with Rock Tomb!" Grant shouted back.

"Fen!" Fennekin freaked out and saw Onix getting ready to attack.

"Fennekin, dodge the move!" Alex said.

Fennekin tried running away from the hurling rocks coming from Onix, until she was suddenly stopped from a large boulder blocking her path of travel! She tried moving over to the side instead, but another rock fell! Then another one! Then another... Until she was sealed off in a jail-like cell!

"This is not good! She can't go anywhere else, and the rocks are too tall for her to jump over... Wait a minute, that's it!" Alex thought carefully.

"Onix finish Fennekin off with Flash Cannon!" Grant interrupted his train of thought.

Onix opened his mouth again and shot a large speedy Flash Cannon towards his target. Fennekin looked up at the moving projectile and began to worry for herself now.

"Use Scratch and try to climb outta there before you get hit!" Alex commanded her.

Within a matter of milli-seconds, Fennekin grew long sharp claws and climbed her way up the rocks easily! When she got to the top, the move missed her and ended up causing a huge explosion at the center of the rocky jail cell.

"Fenne?" Fennekin looked back and the impact of the explosion, made her fly up high into the sky as well!

"Fennekin, nows your chance! Use Ember and Psybeam and combine them together!" Alex shouted from below.

"What's this now?" Grant asked in surprise.

Fennekin instantly shot her Ember first, then she used Psybeam and combined the two moves together into one.

"Onix dodge it!" Grant yelled.

But he was too late, the move had already struck Onix, flying straight through the smokey clouds! Onix fell back down from the move, and Alex had another chance to attack.

"Finish Onix off with the same move again!" Alex said once more.

"Fen-ne-KIIIIN!" Fennekin screamed out and blasted Onix again with the same combo'd move!

"Onix!" Grant yelled.

There was yet another huge explosion, so neither of them could see what happened to Onix! When the smoke finally cleared though, Onix was lying there on the ground.

"You good Onix?" Grant asked.

But his Onix didn't reply back to the question, he didn't even get up either... Grant sighed and returned him back into his Pokéball. Fennekin trotted her way back happily to her Trainer and wagged her tail in the process!

"Awesome job Fennekin, only one more Pokémon to go!" Alex told her.

He rubbed her head and then fed her a twig to snack on.

"Fenne! Fen!" Fennekin took it from him and chewed on it with a smile on her face.

"We can win this right? Maybe his second Pokémon is a lot harder then we think... But do your best out there okay?" Alex whispered.

"Fen-nekin." Fennekin nodded her head and walked away from him.

When she finally got back to her side of the arena, Grant had a pleasing smile on his face!

"That was a pretty good first round Alex, but the next one begins! I won't hold back got it?" Grant shouted, complimenting his challenger.

"Give us everything you've got!" Alex smiled back, pumped up for the next fight.

Grant took out another Pokéball and tossed it into the air. His second Pokémon came right out and it was a Tyrunt!

"Tyyruunt!" The dinosaur like Pokémon cried out.

"That's a pretty cool looking Pokémon." Alex thought while scanning the creature with his Pokédex.

"Tyrunt, the Rock Type fossil dinosaur-like Pokémon! This Pokémon was restored from a fossil. If something happens that it doesn't like, it throws a tantrum and runs wild!" The Pokédex explained about Tyrunt.

"Another Rock Type, I'm gonna have to be very careful with Fennekin then." Alex mumbled quietly.

"Like I said Alex, I'm not gonna hold back. I wanna see how powerful your Fennekin is." Grant shouted.

"Now let's get this started! Fennekin, use Tail Whip." Alex started off the battle.

Fennekin ran as fast as she could up to the Tyrunt, and she hit him with her tail as hard as she could.

"That's not gonna do anything Alex. Tyrunt, Dragon Tail!" Grant said with a smirk on his face.

"Dodge it!" Alex shouted.

Fennekin obeyed him and jumped back while doing a flip in the process!

"Psybeam!" Alex continued to command her.

"Fen!" Fennekin screamed and blasted Tyrunt with a Psybeam.

"Hm... Let's see if Viola was right, Rock Tomb!" Grant yelled.

Tyrunt jumped up into the air, looking down at Fennekin. He used his powers to summon huge rocks, and he dropped them from above.

"Fennekin, dodge it again." Alex told her calmly with a smile on his face.

She dodged Tyrunt's move again and looked back at Alex, nodding her head at him. Then, she started to giggle happily.

"Draco Meteor!" Grant exclaimed.

Tyrunt attacked Fennekin again, but unfortunately for him... Fennekin dodged it easily and laughed some more! Showing off her speed against him. By then Grant was starting to get a bit frustrated by Fennekin taunting them!

"Alright Fennekin, use Scratch and throw that rock onto Tyrunt." Alex said.

Fennekin used Scratch and grew her claws again. She ran towards the rock that Alex told her to hit, and she hit it pretty hard with her move. The rock came from Tyrunt's Rock Tomb, so it was pretty big!

"Dodge!" Grant yelled.

Tyrunt jumped up into the air, and avoided the rock that Fennekin threw at him! Now it was Grant's turn to laugh, his laughter made Alex feel a bit worried now...

"You see Alex, my Tyrunt has speed too. Don't think you and your little Fennekin can win this easily." Grant grinned evilly.

Alex chuckled nervously, he wondered what Grant was going to do next. Both Tyrunt and his Fennekin were equally matched, speed-wise, so it was a very entertaining battle to watch!

"Now Tyrunt, Crunch!" Grant continued to speak.

Tyrunt used his weight to fall back down very fast from the air, even Fennekin and Alex didn't expect it! What happened next, Tyrunt opened his jaws and pounced Fennekin. She was taken by surprise and didn't have time to react or even brace herself from the attack. Tyrunt gripped her by his mouth and held onto her while biting down hard on her fur! Fennekin started to freak out a bit until she heard Alex's voice again saying,

"Try and get yourself outta there by using Psybeam!"

Fennekin turned her head around and shot a Psybeam into Tyrunt's mouth.

"Tyyyyy!" Tyrunt had an angry look on his face, giving his opponent a killer look.

He started dragging Fennekin along with him and he started running around the arena, with her still being trapped in his mouth! Tyrunt also made sure that she was getting hit from the large rocks on the battlefield also! When the rocks hit Fennekin, she felt a bit of pain... But she pulled through it easily by bracing herself.

"Fennekin, use Psybeam once again!" Alex exclaimed.

"Oh no you don't! Tyrunt pin her down and use Draco Meteor!" Grant interrupted.

Before Fennekin could attack her opponent, Tyrunt slammed her down to the floor, suddenly stunning the breath out of her! He let go of her and then used Draco Meteor on her after he jumped away.

"Dodge!" Alex yelled.

Fennekin opened her eyes and got up quickly, she turned around and started to run but she was too late... One of the meteors blocked her path of travel and another one hit her backside pretty hard!

"Fen-ne!" Fennekin fell down from the projectile and laid there on the ground, with a painful shock across her back.

She struggled to get back up, leaving Grant with another chance to attack!

"Tyrunt, finish this battle and use Rock Tomb!" Grant said.

Tyrunt then summoned more rocks and dropped them upon Fennekin.

"K-Kin..." Fennekin started to cry a bit, with tears streaming down the sides of her face.

She pulled through the attack pretty well, but Tyrunt was ready to attack her once again!

"Dragon Tail, let's go!" Grant continued to shout.

"Fennekin!" Alex screamed.

Fennekin turned around and saw Tyrunt swinging his tail at her. She was hit directly in the face by his tail and she flew back into another rock that came from Tyrunt's Rock Tomb earlier!

"F-FEENN!" Fennekin screamed out in pain and landed back onto the ground, with that same painful shock returning from her back again.

"Oh no!" Melanie mumbled quietly.

She and Pancham felt bad for Fennekin now. She looked back over to Alex and saw his worried face...

"Fennekin, are you alright?" Alex asked.

Grant examined Fennekin a while longer before saying,

"Looks like your Fennekin is unable to continue, which means that I've-"

He was cutoff by Alex shouting,

"Check again!"

Grant looked back at Fennekin and saw her slowly getting up!

"Fen-ne-kin..." She struggled to even speak words...

She eventually got up completely and had an angry look on her face, feeling a bit of rage towards Tyrunt.

"Alright girl, whenever you're ready, give it all you've got!" Alex told her.

She looked back at her Trainer and smiled wide, nodding her head in the process.

"Let's go, run up to Tyrunt and use Tail Whip!" Alex commanded.

"Dodge it!" Grant said.

Tyrunt listened and jumped back up to avoid Fennekin's attack. However... Fennekin predicted this, so she jumped up as well and hit him perfectly with her tail.

"Jump off of him and push him back down." Alex exclaimed.

Fennekin then turned around and jumped off of Tyrunt's body. Now he started to fall back down while facing Fennekin again in midair!

"Tyrunt, Draco Meteor!" Grant yelled.

His Pokémon used the move and shot a small meteoric rock towards her.

"Use Scratch and deflect it back!" Alex told her.

Melanie knew what was going to happen next, so she had a smile on her face all of a sudden!

"That Fennekin sure is strong, I guess whenever she's in trouble... She must get really angry about having to lose the fight! Looks like she uses that anger to her advantage!" Melanie thought more about Alex's Fennekin.

Fennekin waited for the right moment to strike back! When the Meteor came closer to her, she deflected the move with her claws and sent it back to her opponent! As soon as Tyrunt was hit by the move, smoke formed from the attack! Causing a massive explosion, that could be heard for miles! Grant couldn't see where Fennekin was at, and neither could Tyrunt. But Alex had the perfect chance to attack again! So he shouted out,

"Finish him with your Fiery Psybeam attack!"

Fennekin used Ember and Psybeam at the same time, and she made the two moves go even faster when she hit them with her Scratch!

"Tyrunt dodge it!" Grant yelled.

But it was already too late... Tyrunt was hit from the move and he fell back onto the ground pretty hard. All they could hear was a loud "Bang!" sound that Tyrunt made when he collided with the floor! When the smoke finally cleared, Fennekin landed perfectly after doing a quick flip, and Tyrunt was knocked out from the powerful attack! Grant was surprised from what he just witnessed... He had never seen such an attack like that before!

"Tyrunt, you were amazing out there! Get a long rest alright?" Grant whispered to the Rock Type.

He returned Tyrunt and smiled at Alex and Fennekin soon after... He made his way towards them while holding something in his hand, still grinning at the two in front of him. Fennekin ran back to Alex with a huge smile on her face, wagging her tail as well! She jumped at him and Alex caught her into his arms, hugging the life out of her!

"Great battle Fennekin! I'm so proud of you! You were awesome out there!" Alex grinned at her and started petting her head, tickling her a bit.

"Kin!" Fennekin giggled from the affection, and hugged Alex back.

When Grant finally reached them, he held out a Gym Badge directly towards Alex!

"Here's your Cliff Badge Alex, that was a lot of fun battling you! Viola was right about your Fennekin!" Grant smirked at the boy.

"Heh... Thanks a lot Grant! It was a fun challenge!" Alex agreed and took the badge from him.

He took out his Badge case and put the badge into it's proper slot, feeling proud of his team.

"Alright! We got the Cliff Badge!" Alex jumped up into the air and cheered happily.

"FEN-Nekin!" Fennekin joined him and licked his face while they were celebrating their victorious win!

Melanie ran over to them and she felt happy for them both!

"Congrats on getting your second badge you two!" Melanie complimented them.

"Thanks Melanie!" Alex smiled back, blushing lightly...

He faced towards Grant again to see what he wanted to do next.

"Come on, let's go outside!" Grant continued on.

He took them to the elevator and they made their way out of the gym slowly!

 _ **A few moments later...**_

 ** _Play Song!: (Route 1 - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=pC_f_oNPofc)_**

When they finally got outside, Alex and Melanie's stomachs started growling at the same time! They both laughed nervously and looked back at Grant, who was still behind them both.

"Good luck with your next Gym Battle Alex, your Fennekin will probably evolve soon! And remember to take care of that Eevee, got it?" Grant chuckled to himself.

Alex looked back at the Eevee egg and saw it shake a tiny bit!

"Looks like it'll hatch soon Grant, I'm sure we'll have a rematch someday?" Alex wondered.

"We sure will! I'll see you again soon..." Grant answered back and waved them goodbye just before returning to his gym!

"Bye!" Both Melanie and Alex waved back and made their way back onto the mountain's road again!

They were silent for a while until they returned back to the city.

"Wanna go get something to eat?" Alex asked his friend.

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry. What about you Pancham?" Melanie replied back and looked at her partner.

"Pan! Pancham! Cham!" Pancham pointed his finger towards a nearby forest.

"What's he trying to say?" Melanie wondered and asked Alex.

Even Fennekin looked up at Alex and jumped from his arms too!

"Fen! Kin!" Fennekin pointed her paw towards the forest as well.

"Do you guys wanna go explore for a bit while Melanie and I get you both lunch?" Alex asked them, thinking that was what they wanted.

Both Pancham and Fennekin nodded their heads and they smiled at him!

"Can we trust you two to be safe? We'll meet you guys back here when you're done, got it?" Melanie told them just to be safe.

The two small Pokémon nodded again before making their way into the forest together.

"Be safe!" Alex shouted before leaving with Melanie.

"Fenne-kin!" Fennekin yelled back.

She and Pancham walked away from their Trainers and they eventually reached the forest. There wasn't really much to explore either, it was just an average typical forest in Kalos...

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

Both Pancham and Fennekin were walking together through the forest. Neither of them spoke a word when they got in though... It was quiet for a while until Fennekin broke the silence by saying,

"So... Why did you want to come here in the first place?"

Pancham smiled and looked at her directly in the eye replying,

"I don't know... I just thought, maybe we would um... I uh, wanted to explore some place with you." Pancham answered nervously.

"Oh, so that's why you asked Melanie that... I wanted to tag along with you too, I was curious to see what you were going to do out here." Fennekin smiled at him.

"Well, sometimes it's nice to just get away from your Trainer for a while you know?" Pancham said.

"I know what you mean..." Fennekin sighed, remembering her previous Trainer before Alex.

Pancham saw her smile fade away, and she started to frown all of a sudden...

"Hey, Fennekin? What's wrong?" Pancham asked her, noticing the frown.

"Nothing... It's just that my old Trainer is just a jerk..." She replied back.

He stopped for a moment and she looked back at him.

"What about your old Trainer? I thought Alex was the only Trainer you've ever had." Pancham titled his head in confusion.

Fennekin shook her head and she sat down on the soft grassy ground.

"Guess I'll have to tell you about him then. Anyways... My previous Trainer was really mean to me in the past. He didn't really feed me anything good, neither was he nice to me at all. Every time I would lose a battle, he would constantly yell at me. Before you know it... He abandoned me after I lost against Viola and Clemont... He left me out on the streets and I just saw him walk away from me." Fenenkin explained it all to him.

Pancham had a sad look on his face. He felt bad for her, but she smiled again and wagged her tail.

"That's when I met Alex! He came out of his house just to see if I was alright. I wasn't really sure about going with him at first, cause I didn't know him very well... But I'm glad he came out that night! And that's how I basically met Alex! Don't you remember the story when Alex told Melanie about it back on Route 2?" Fennekin continued talking.

"I remember some of it... I'm not really good when it comes to memory! But, your old Trainer did sound pretty mean... Good thing you have Alex though right?" Pancham chuckled.

"Ha! Yeah I'm happy about being his partner! But I just can't stop thinking about my last Trainer. He-" Fennekin spoke again but she was cutoff by Pancham.

"Hey don't worry about him anymore! Wanna keep walking together? That'll get your mind off of him." Pancham asked.

She nodded her head happily and got back up again. That's when Pancham decided to change the topic by saying,

"You were really amazing out there you know!"

He made Fennekin blush, and she looked away. Pancham even looked at her tail and saw pieces of rock on it.

"Hey, stand still for a moment." He told her.

"W-Wait why?" Fennekin looked back at him and wondered what he was going to do to her.

"Don't worry, there's just a few pebbles in your tail." Pancham exclaimed, laughing at her.

Fennekin stopped walking and sat down for him to take them off of her. Pancham went ahead and cleaned her tail off by removing the small rocks. She turned around and saw her tail completely cleaned off!

"There you go Fenny!" Pancham smiled at her.

Fennekin blushed from the nickname he called her and she smiled back happily, wagging her tail constantly! They continued to smile at each other for a while until they heard Fennekin's stomach growling.

"Sounds like you're hungry huh?" Pancham laughed at her once again.

"Yeah, but there's nothing to eat around here." Fennekin sighed.

She looked around and didn't see any bushes with berries in them. Until something caught her eye, so she looked up at the object and examined it for a bit.

"Hey! There's one up there, that's an Apple!" She pointed her paw up towards the fruit and Pancham noticed it as well.

"I thought you only ate twigs and spicy things?" Pancham asked her.

She shook her head and replied back by saying,

"Sure... I love eating twigs and spicy foods, but I wanna know what an Apple tastes like!"

Then she started to frown again and Pancham noticed this right away... Fennekin looked at him and asked innocently,

"Do you think you could get that for me?"

"I can't reach it, I'm too short!" Pancham complained.

"Please?" Fennekin gave him a sad look soon after.

He sighed in defeat and then looked back at the fruit.

"If I use any of my moves on it, then I'll probably destroy it!" Pancham argued with her.

"What moves do you even know?" Fennekin wondered curiously.

"The only moves I know are Arm Thrust, Tackle, Leer, and Dark Pulse. If I use Dark Pulse, then I'll just end up exploding the Apple. Can't you use any of your moves?" Pancham answered back while crossing his arms.

"I can't use Ember cause I don't want a crispy burnt Apple, plus Psybeam will explode it into pieces too." Fennekin complained even more about it.

"Wait, I have an idea... Do you think Scratch will work? Maybe you can climb your way up?" Pancham suggested.

She nodded her head and walked up to the tree. She used Scratch and grew claws, then she started climbing her way up the tree easily!

"You can do it Fenny!" Pancham cheered her on.

Fennekin continued to blush from the nickname, she focused on getting the Apple though so she wouldn't mess up and fall.

 _ **Minutes later...**_

Fennekin eventually got to the top and grabbed the apple with her mouth. She climbed back down and cheered happily!

"Yay! I did it!" She smiled in victory.

"Nice!" Pancham complimented.

She turned around and looked back at him, then an idea popped up in her head. Pancham saw her using Scratch again and she sliced the Apple in half!

"What'd you do that for?" He questioned her sudden move.

Fennekin held both of the Apple slices in her paws and she offered one to him.

"Here, you can have the other one!" Fennekin offered.

"N-No I can't take it, it's yours! You got it first." Pancham declined her offer.

That made her frown again...

"Come on! You need to eat too, I bet you're just as hungry as I am. Besides... We're not gonna go back for a while cause I wanna explore this forest and see what's in store for us!" Fennekin reminded him.

"A-Are you sure?" Pancham asked just to be sure.

"Yep! Take it Panchy!" Fennekin giggled.

Now it was Pancham's turn to feel embarrased, he blushed lightly and took the Apple from her.

"Thanks Fenny." Pancham smirked at her and saw the blush on her face starting to form again.

The two of them gradually ate their slices of the Apple, and they continued to explore the forest together!


	7. Ch 7, A Sudden Surprise!

_**Ch. 7, A Sudden Surprise!**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 201 (Daytime) - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=2ajhgkYFCG0&t=353s)**_

Fennekin and Pancham were enjoying their peaceful stroll through the forest they were in. They just finished eating the Apple that they shared with each other.

"Mmm! That Apple tasted so good!" Fennekin yawned out loud, after swallowing the last piece.

"You can say that again!" Pancham agreed with her and smiled happily.

They continued to look around the place, but didn't find anything unique about the forest. Until Pancham saw a nearby pathway, he looked back at Fennekin asking her,

"Wanna go explore this trail?"

"Heck yeah I do! Let's go see where it leads to!" Fennekin answered proudly and she started walking down the path with him.

 _ **A few minutes later...**_

The two small Pokémon continued to walk down the path, being very bored... So they decided to pass the time by talking some more.

"I really like that bow of yours Fenny, it looks... Good... On you." Pancham blushed while complimenting her.

"T-Thanks! You too, those glasses seem really nice to wear around, huh?" Fennekin smiled back, humiliated by what he told her.

"Yeah I like them too." Pancham replied.

He proudly wore his glasses over his face and put his hands behind his head, trying to act cool in front of her, while chewing on the small grassy leaf in his mouth.

"Let's keep on following this path okay?" Pancham exclaimed.

Fennekin nodded her head and followed him.

"You know, for a Pancham... You're pretty cool to be around with." Fennekin admitted to him while blushing lightly.

"For a Fennekin, you're pretty strong to go against Rock Types like that. I thought you were going to lose!" Pancham told her, laughing a bit from his own words.

"No! Well... Yes I felt a lot of pain from the attacks, but I was taught to be strong. My old Trainer was always strict to me, and he always hit me whenever I did something wrong." Fennekin explained.

"Oh..." Pancham sighed.

He really felt bad for her and didn't want her to think about it anymore, so he wanted to do something fun with her next!

"Tag! You're it!" Pancham yelled all of sudden and touched her.

"W-what!" Fennekin shouted in surprise.

He started running off into the direction the path took them to, with Fennekin running behind him. After a couple of minutes of Fennekin chasing Pancham around, he eventually came to a stop and saw an opening that led out of the forest! Fennekin slowed down and stopped behind him.

"Pancham? *huff* W-Why did you stop?" Fennekin asked.

"Follow me." Pancham whispered.

He walked towards the opening and Fennekin did what he told her to do. The pathway finished and they got out of the forest, it led them to a huge open lake! Along the lakesides though, there were several forest Pokémon drinking the water, and some others swimming in it too!

"Hey look! A lake, come on Fenny!" Pancham exclaimed and ran off to the lake.

When he got to the edge of it, he bent down and drank some of the fresh delicious purified water.

"Pancham, there sure are a lot of Pokémon around here." Fennekin pointed out.

He finished sipping the water and got back up, feeling refreshed from drinking the liquid. He also took a look around and saw tons of other Pokémon doing the same thing that he was doing. They even spotted a small Pokémon walking towards them. The Pokémon was a Pichu, and he ran towards the lake! The Pichu jumped into the water and splashed around happily, enjoying life! After Pancham watched the tiny mouse Pokémon swimming away from them, he had an idea!

"Hey, do you wanna swim with me?" Pancham asked while looking at her.

Fennekin took a step back and shook a bit with fear. Pancham noticed it and asked her,

"What's wrong? You don't wanna swim with me?"

Pancham started to frown, and Fennekin freaked out by his sudden change in emotion.

"N-No! No it's not that! It's just... I'm not really good at swimming... I'm a Fire Type, we're not usually in water all that much. Besides I don't even know if other Fennekin like me are good at swimming." She confessed.

"Aw don't worry about it! Come on let's go! I'll teach ya!" Pancham grabbed her paw and she blushed from the contact.

He got into the warm water while holding Fennekin, but she stopped and let go of his hand.

"Pancham wait, I'm not really good at this! Beleive me, I'll probably drown." Fennekin sighed.

Pancham motioned her to join him, and he managed to convince her after giving her a smirky look.

"You take baths right? It's the same thing! Trust me! I'm here for you!" Pancham tried convincing her even more.

"Yeah but... Well..." Fennekin ran out of options of what to say next.

She slowly took a few steps into the water until she reached him...

"How's the water feel?" He asked.

As soon as the water touched her body, it actually felt very nice! Cool, refreshing, beautiful, and it was clean too!

"It feels really good! Whoever knew this lake was located in the middle of nowhere. Now how do I swim like you do?" Fennekin exclaimed happily.

"You see that's the problem... I just realized that it's probably going to be different for you because you walk on four legs, and I only walk on two." Pancham pointed out.

"You think?" Fennekin shouted back, annoyed a bit.

Pancham jumped back, surprised at her sudden outburst.

"I-I'm sorry..." Fennekin dropped her ears low and felt ashamed by her action towards him.

"It's okay, anyways all you really have to do is just keep moving your feet around and you'll stay above the water easily!" Pancham explained what to do.

He swam farther out and looked back at her.

"Do you think you can swim to me?" He questioned her.

"I'll try..." Fennekin mumbled to herself.

She kept moving her feet like how a dog would swim, and she got the hang of it real quick. She kept paddling her feet and swam towards Pancham with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey I'm doing it!" Fennekin cheered in joy.

She reached Pancham and he grinned back at her.

"See, I knew you could do it!" Pancham gave her a thumbs up.

"Yeah, thanks for giving me the courage to learn how to do this. Then again... I wish Alex, Melanie, and James were here to see this beautiful lake." Fennekin sighed.

Pancham floated on his back and put his hands behind his head again. He closed his eyes and felt the warm heat from the sun on his body!

"Whatever happened to James?" He wondered.

"I think he went to go train his team or something. He probably felt disappointed sighed.

"I'm pretty sure our Trainers are going to be worried about us if we're not back in time." Fennekin exclaimed.

Then a question popped up in her head, she was starting to feel weird about Pancham.

"W-Why do I feel so nervous now?" She thought.

Fennekin just swam out of the water and eventually reached land again. Pancham was a bit disappointed that they had to leave so early, but he followed along anyway. Both of them found the path again, and they walked through it together...

 _ **Minutes later...**_

Neither of them were speaking to each other. They just stayed quite while walking together the whole time. Sure, they would look at each other every once in a while, but Fennekin would always blush and look away instantly. That's when Pancham wanted the awkwardness to go away. He thought about what to say to her, but he couldn't think of anything...

"Fennekin, I-" Pancham started, but was cutoff by her sudden stop.

She took a deep breath and looked at him in the eye.

"D-Do you l-like me?" Fennekin asked.

Pancham felt really nervous now, he tried not to shake either.

"I..." He spoke.

"Come on, I won't bite..." Fennekin giggled.

"No! I don't like you! If that's what you're asking!" Pancham yelled at her, surprising her.

He started running away from her and went on ahead past the route.

"Wait Pancham!" Fennekin screamed and followed him.

She started running towards him and felt a bit scared from what she said. She didn't want to be alone, so she tried to catch up to noticed Pancham slowing down and he turned to his left. He kept on running off and Fennekin started getting tired from all of the running.

"Pancham come on! Slow down already." Fennekin shouted.

But that didn't stop him either, she sighed and was starting to get frustrated with him. After a short while, they returned to Cyllage City. Pancham slowed down and stopped, even Fennekin finally caught up to him.

"Y-you... Why did you leave me behind? You never answered my question. Are you alright?" Fennekin asked.

"Leave me alone!" Pancham shouted at her again and ran off to a nearby bench to sit at.

They were at the spot that Alex and Melanie left them at. When Fennekin reached the bench, she climbed up and sat down next to Pancham. She didn't bother talking to him, and neither did he.

"Why is he acting so rude all of a sudden?" Fennekin thought.

She sighed and looked up ahead. She saw her Trainer, as well as Melanie following along.

"Looks like he's back!" She mumbled cheerfully.

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

 ** _Play Song!: (Cyllage City - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=NXu8L0DWczs)_**

"Hey guys!" Alex called from faraway.

Fennekin started running towards Alex at a great speed, and jumped up at him.

"Hi Fennekin! Did you have a good time with Pancham?" Alex greeted her.

Fennekin nodded her head happily and looked back at Melanie. She was still carrying the Eevee egg, but Pancham remained sitting alone on the bench.

"Pancham, you alright?" Melanie wondered.

She saw the frown on his face, but Pancham still looked up and nodded.

"Well, we're glad you both had fun. Hey Melanie, we should probably get going so we can meet up with James again." Alex suggested.

"Mhm! You're right, but wait... I was just wondering if you could teach me how to catch a Pokémon now? We're already close to Route 8, so can we go back there?" Melanie asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, lets go." Alex sighed and walked back to where they came from.

As they traveled through the city, Fennekin and Pancham remained quite. Alex knew that something was wrong, so he wanted to talk with Fennekin about it.

"Hey girl, you're acting pretty quite. Are you feeling okay?" Alex whispered.

Fennekin turned around and looked up at him, she was frowning and he didn't like it whenever she did that.

"Did something happen when you were with Pancham?" Alex asked.

"Fen..." Fennekin nodded her head slightly.

"Are you gonna be okay though? Look, I'm sure if something happened between you two. Then you'll both make up eventually, besides... I packed some food for you while Melanie and I ate lunch together." Alex started grinning.

He tickled her and that made her giggle, changing her emotion so suddenly! She looked up to him and started smiling back, that made Alex feel a lot better! But whenever Fennekin took a look at Pancham, he always noticed it... And he would constantly look away and blush lightly, which confused her...

"Alex, do you know what gender the Eevee will be?" Melanie wondered.

Alex looked at her, taking out his Pokédex in the process.

He scanned the egg and read more info about it. After he read the data, he said,

"Looks like it's going to be a male Eevee. I wonder what they look like though!"

Fennekin started tugging at Alex's shirt to get his attention.

"What's up Fennekin?" Alex exclaimed.

She rubbed her belly and opened her mouth, pointing her paw at it.

"Fen-ne? Fen." Fennekin spoke.

"I know you're hungry, but I had to go cheer Starly up because she felt bad about losing earlier. Anyways, you'll eat whenever we get to Route 8." Alex explained.

Fennekin had an angry look on her face, and she opened her mouth at him. She was getting ready to shoot an Ember, until he realized it and shouted out,

"Okay! Okay! Here... Snack on a twig for now okay?"

He pulled out the bag of twigs and gave her one to snack on.

"Kin!" Fennekin giggled and chewed on the small stick happily.

"You're lucky I'm nice..." Alex groaned in annoyance.

 _ **A few minutes later of traveling...**_

"Are we even there yet? We've traveled across this city forever!" Melanie complained.

"It's literally only been a few minutes, why do you always do this to me..." Alex replied.

"Cause I'm excited for Pancham to have his first battle against a wild Pokémon, who do you think I should catch?" Melanie wondered.

"I don't know, whatever floats your boat. There's a few different kinds of Pokémon on Route 8, so you'll have plenty to pick from." Alex exclaimed.

 _ **Play Song!: (Sunyshore City (Daytime) - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=BULBrQJHCsc)**_

They finally reached the beachside of Route 8, and Alex took Melanie to a small patch of grass.

"Fennekin, your food is in my bag. Just help yourself to whatever you want."

Alex and Melanie left their bags behind, and Pancham as well as Fennekin staying there too. Their two Trainers walked around and searched the area for other Pokémon to catch.

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language)**_

Fennekin didn't really feel comfortable though, being alone with Pancham again. She looked through Alex's bag and ignored Pancham for the time being. What she found was what she was craving for Lunch, a small container that was filled with a Poké-Burger, along with spicy peppers, and a few slices of pickles!

"Yes! Just what I wanted like last time!" Fennekin smiled at the food container.

She opened it and began eating her food slowly, enjoying the taste! Pancham was minding his own business, he ate what Melanie would usually get him. His favorite food were Pecha and Oran berries, along with an orange Pokéblock, and a few Poké-Puffs too! Pancham walked over to Fennekin and sat down next to her.

"Fennekin, I-" Pancham started to speak to her, but she interrupted him before he could even finish his sentence.

"Don't bother..." Fennekin cut-in.

She gazed off towards the clear blue ocean water ahead of them. Fennekin usually liked peaceful places, she would enjoy going to places like this before in the past! She remembered when she went to a beautiful ocean once, with her previous old Trainer...

 _ **Flashback!**_

It was a bright cloudless sunny day in Kalos! Fenenkin was sitting alone at a beach, looking off into the distance. Her Trainer was busy training his Pokémon behind her. She would hear him shouting, as well as her team doing all sorts of attacks in the background too. She ignored the loud sounds though, all she focused on was looking at the ocean beyond her. Until she heard footsteps approaching her from behind... She turned her head around and saw her Trainer walking up to her. Her Trainer's name was Scott...

"Great... Now what?" She thought to herself, rolling her eyes.

"Hey! I didn't say you could take a break from Training. You realize that you're going to battle against Viola right?" Scott yelled at her.

He was about six ft. tall, and he usually wore dark colored clothing such as a dark gray sweater, black jeans, and dark grayish whitish running shoes.

"Can I just stay here for a moment Scott? I don't really wanna train with you right now... You know how rough Charmander can be." Fennekin talked back.

She knew he didn't understand her, but she talked back anyway. Fennekin didn't really like him, he was always focused on training hard and was trying to become a strong Trainer. He never put fun aside...

"I didn't give you permission to talk back to me like that." Scott kept on shouting, noticing her little attitude.

Fennekin rolled her eyes and got up from where she was sitting. She started walking off towards the water, but she was picked up by her tail right away!

"Don't roll your eyes at me either missy, you UNDERSTAND? You're going to train and practice with Charmander whether you like it or not!" Scott yelled angrily.

He slapped her pretty hard across her face and she flew back from the impact. He let go of her and let her fall back down onto the sand. Fennekin looked up at him and saw the angry look on his face.

"If you fail to impress me with your Gym Battle, then consider me ditching you. Do you understand me?" Scott exclaimed.

She got up quickly and ran towards Charmander, she obeyed him because she didn't want to become a wild Pokémon... She didn't want to live out there alone in the wild... She was afraid of being by herself, and the only thing she could do was just to listen to him, so that he wouldn't do such a thing. When she walked past Charmander, he smirked at her and started to laugh soon after.

"What's so funny?" Fennekin asked, giving him a killer look.

"You're never going to stay here on the team. You're way too weak! Remember when we first battled? You couldn't even figure out how to use your attacks properly on me!" Charmander explained.

"Yeah because I was new to the whole battling thing! You know Scott picked me as soon as I hatched out of my egg back at the lab..." Fennekin sighed, feeling saddened.

"Yeah I remember that! You kept on crying because you were still a baby! When I hatched, I didn't even act like a baby. I acted like a mature Pokémon, but look at you! You're probably going to lose against Viola anyways! And then the next thing you'll see is us leaving without you!" Charmander continued to tease her.

"That's not true, I can be strong too you know! I'll beat Viola tomorrow, you'll see!" Fennekin argued back, standing up for herself.

"Sure you can! I would be pretty surprised if that were to happen when you fight her tomorrow. Besides... When Scott abandons you, I bet you that there will be absolutely no one else out there for you! You'll be alone, for the rest of your life! Without a Trainer!" Charmander finished yelling at her.

 _ **Flashback end...**_

She remembered that same old Charmander on her team, he was also very mean to her as well... He never really believed in her from the start, he always doubted her potential to become a great fighter. She took her mind off of it and continued to eat, shoving the horrible memories beside.

"Listen Fennekin-" Pancham started off again.

Fennekin turned her head and looked directly at him in the eye, making him feel a bit nervous.

"What, DO you want?" She asked in annoyance.

"I know you're mad at me, but I just..." Pancham continued.

"Like I told you, don't bother apologizing... You didn't have to yell at me back in the forest, and you certainly didn't have to run away from me too. I don't like being alone. Why didn't you just answer the question? I'll ask you again... Do you like me?" Fennekin whispered to him.

Pancham gulped nervously and said,

"What do you mean by like you?"

Fennekin rolled her eyes and replied back by saying,

"You know what I mean..."

She gave him an annoyed look, because he was trying to hide it from her. Pancham got up anyway and took his food to sit farther away from her. Fennekin sighed and looked down at the sand.

"Why is he hiding it? Does he really like me or not... I just want him to think I'm cool too... Hopefully he's not thinking it wrongly!" Fennekin thought.

She tried to look at him again, but he turned the other way...

"Was it something I said to him back in the forest?" Fennekin mumbled, thinking more about it.

She saw Alex and Melanie chatting, and she giggled at the two of them being together.

"Wow, I have to admit it... They sure do look cute together." She started laughing next.

Then she touched the bow on her head, and looked at Alex for a minute. She sighed in happiness and closed her eyes. When she finished eating, she laid back on the soft warm sand and decided to sleep for a bit.

 _ **Back to Alex and Melanie!**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

"You got it Melanie? Just go into that patch of grass with this, and then hold it out. The Pokémon in there will probably jump at you, so you might wanna have Pancham with you just to be safe." Alex suggested.

He gave her the jar of honey that James had, and they were getting ready for Melanie's first catch!

"Hey Pancham, could you help me for a sec?" Melanie called Pancham over.

He walked fast towards her while eating an Oran Berry. When he got up to her, he tilted his head curiously and wondered what she wanted.

"Do you think you can fight against a wild Pokémon?" Melanie asked.

Pancham finished eating his Berry, and nodded slowly, looking too adorable!

"Pan-Cham Pan." He replied.

He moved so that he could be in front of her, and she took out a spoonful of honey. She held it out towards the patch of grass, but nothing happened...

"So what do I do when it comes out?" Melanie exclaimed.

"You just battle it like you would normally do in a fight. Then when it's about to faint, go ahead and use a Pokéball on it, and hopefully it'll want to join your team." Alex explained.

"Okay, I'll try..." Melanie mumbled nervously.

"Don't worry, you're gonna do fine! I'm right behind you if you need it!" Alex encouraged her.

Melanie noticed a patch of grass starting to move towards her! She got nervous and her heart was starting to beat faster from excitement! She backed away slowly from the grass, and Pancham got ready for whatever was about to pop out! The Pokémon hidden in the grass jumped out at them with a screeching cry. It scared Melanie and she backed away even more, but Pancham defended her! The small Pokémon looked at Melanie first, then Pancham, giving them angry looks.

"W-What's that?" Melanie wondered.

"I'll go ahead and scan it for you!" Alex told them.

He ran back to his bag, grabbed his Pokédex, and scanned the creature with it!

"Bagon, the Dragon type and Rock Head Pokémon! It's well-developed neck muscles and iron-like head can smash boulders into pieces! This Pokémon is a Male, and it's moves are Ember, Leer, Bite, and Dragon Breath." The Pokédex announced.

"Baaagon!" Bagon screamed at Pancham.

"Now Melanie, go ahead and battle it!" Alex shouted.

"R-Right!" Melanie gulped.

 _ **Pancham Vs. Bagon!**_

The wild Pokémon didn't hesitate to attack, so the small creature ran towards Pancham.

Melanie was never into Pokémon battling though. She's seen battles and learned from them, but she just never battled that much against other Trainers or wild Pokémon.

"Okay um... Pancham go ahead and use Tackle." Melanie started off.

Pancham ran back towards his opponent, bracing for the impact.

While Bagon on the other hand, prepared for the attack.

As soon as Pancham was about to leap forward and attack, Bagon jumped aside and used Dragon Breath on him.

The move struck Pancham, and he flew back away.

"Pan!" Pancham yelled and fell down.

Fennekin even woke up from the move and noticed Pancham battling.

She was wondering what was going on, but still felt a bit sleepy.

Melanie gasped and shouted out,

"Are you okay Pancham?"

Pancham quickly got back up and turned his head around to face Melanie, he gave her a quick wink and then a thumbs up.

"Good, let's see what he'll do next." Melanie thought.

The Bagon went ahead and opened his mouth, he ran towards Pancham again and showed his sharp teeth to intimidate them.

"He's using bite!" Melanie realized.

She looked back at Pancham again and she nodded her head as he looked at her for a moment.

"Cham!" Pancham cried out and jumped up high.

He dodged Bagon's attack and was now airborne!

"Great job Pancham! Nows your chance, use Dark Pulse!" Melanie commanded.

Immediately, Pancham formed a dark ball in his hand and aimed it at his opponent.

"Ba?" Bagon mumbled.

He looked up to see Pancham directly staring at him. Pancham suddenly attacked the Bagon and shot the Dark Pulse at him! The move stung like a bullet, and Bagon was now in total pain! He shook himself off though and stepped away from Pancham, showing a bit of fear. All Pancham could do though was just smirk and laugh to himself!

"Pancham Pan, Cham!" Pancham muttered.

"On? Ba-goonn!" Bagon shouted.

"Now Melanie, nows your chance to capture him!" Alex exclaimed.

"O-Okay, go Pokéball!" Melanie yelled out and threw a Pokéball towards the Bagon, who wasn't paying any attention to her.

The ball opened once it hit him, sucking him right into it, and closing immediately! Then the ball began to shake, it kept rocking back and fourth for a while. But then it stopped shaking, convincing Melanie that she caught Bagon!

"Hey I caught it!" Melanie cheered.

"Pancham! Cham!" Pancham celebrated with her.

"That was really good Melanie, you were great! You too Pancham!" Alex congratulated them.

"Thanks! I wouldn't have been able to pull this off if it weren't for you and Pancham." Melanie thanked both of them.

She noticed Pancham tugging on her leg, and he had a frown on his face. Every time Pancham would do that to her, he would want to be carried... Melanie sighed and rolled her eyes playfully. She scooped him up and put him on her shoulder.

"There, is that better my little baby?" Melanie teased him.

"P-Pan..." Pancham slowly nodded and blushed heavily.

She found it adorable the way his face looked, all red and stuff from the humiliation.

"Alright then, it's time to bring Bagon out." Melanie announced.

She picked up the Pokéball and brought him out. There was a bright blue light that came straight out of the device, and it formed into a Bagon! The Dragon Type Pokémon looked around and noticed Melanie kneeling down to greet him happily.

"Hi there Bagon!" Melanie greeted.

She waved at him and picked him up as well.

"Ba?" Bagon tilted his head and blinked at her.

"Welcome to the team! We're gonna have so much fun traveling together!" Melanie smiled and started petting the creature's head lovingly.

Bagon gave her a smirk and nodded his head.

"This is Pancham, and my friend Alex is over there." Melanie introduced them.

Bagon looked at Pancham, then he looked quickly at Alex.

"Hey!" Alex greeted.

The Pokémon was quiet, and barely spoke at all. Melanie noticed this and told him,

"Don't be shy Bagon, we're your friends now!"

"Baaagon..." Bagon yawned and blinked it's eyes again.

It eventually closed them completely and fell asleep, still in Melanie's arms.

"He fell asleep?" Melanie whispered to Alex.

"Looks that way, I'm sure he's probably tired cause you just battled him. Don't worry though, he'll wake back up eventually." Alex mumbled back.

"Oh, okay...Well then, take a good rest Bagon!" Melanie whispered.

She returned him back into his Pokéball and came back to where Fennekin was at. Alex also noticed her asleep as well.

"She's asleep too?" Alex sighed softly.

He picked her up gently so he wouldn't wake her up, and rested her over his shoulder. He also cleaned up the mess she made with the food, and then grabbed his bag as well as the Eevee egg that he left behind.

"Does she like being in her Pokéball?" Melanie wondered.

Alex shook his head and replied back by saying,

"No, she doesn't like being in her Pokéball. I asked her if she would rather stay out here with me, and she said yes... So I keep her out of it."

"What about when she evolves?" Melanie giggled.

"Then I don't know... Guess I'll still carry her? Do you know what Fennekin evolve into?" Alex exclaimed.

"Yeah, everyone does... She's one of the three main starters of Kalos, she evolves into a Braixen!" Melanie laughed at his response.

"Well I was never outside learning about Pokémon, I was kept inside all the time by my mother." Alex sighed in defeat, rolling his eyes.

He started walking back towards Cyllage City, while Melanie tagged along with him.

 _ **Some time later...**_

After traveling for a while, they made it back to the city, and the egg started to move a bit. Alex shook it a little, and it resulted with the egg shaking even more! He gasped and the egg started shaking rapidly now!

"I think it's hatching!" Alex shouted.

He quickly got everyone's attention, and even woke Fennekin up too for the special occasion! But as soon as everyone laid their eyes onto the egg, it stopped shaking instantly... And it just rested there in Alex's arms, staying still as if it was frozen in place...

"What?!" Melanie screamed in disappointment.

"Looks like it didn't want to hatch..." Alex groaned, disappointed as well.

He was really looking forward to meeting his Eevee, and to see what it's personality would be like too.

"Do you think the egg will hatch faster if we run to Route 10?" Melanie suggested.

"It's worth a shot, plus I'm really curious to see what James has been doing over there the whole day..." Alex agreed with her idea.

Melanie nodded back happily and started running off without him, getting a head start! Alex was shocked by her sudden action, not expecting it!

"Wow... For once she actually wants to lead on without me! She must really want to see the Eevee hatch then!" Alex thought.

He chuckled to himself and followed after her.

 _ **Even more time later...**_

Alex couldn't keep up with her still, now he knew how she felt when he and James ran off ahead without her...

"Melanie! Wait!" Alex struggled to keep on going.

He slowed down and fell down to his knees, trying to catch his breath. She turned around and looked back at him. She patted him on the back and told him,

"Come on, don't give up yet. We don't have to run, but we're so close to reaching Route 10! Don't you wanna meet your Eevee?"

Alex nodded his head slightly, keeping his eyes closed at the same time.

"I DO wanna meet Eevee..." Alex replied back.

"Then let's keep on going!" Melanie encouraged him to keep on moving forward past the city!

She started walking along towards the end of Cyllage City, Alex sighed yet again and walked very slowly behind her...

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 209 (Daytime) - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=OqsgB2TZ9Ks&t=33s)**_

When they finally reached the otherside of the city, they looked ahead of Route 10 and saw lots of rocks and various flower patches too! It was quite beautiful looking even. They also saw other Pokémon hiding in the grassy parts of the route, such as Emolga, Hawlucha, and many others too! Alex's Pokédex scanned all of them, as he passed by the various kinds of Pokémon!

"Alright we're here..." Alex announced, still groaning from earlier.

"Shake that egg once more! I think it'll hatch this time!" Melanie suggested.

Alex did what she had told him, and shook the egg slowly. When he stopped shaking it, he set it down on the ground and bent down. He put his ear onto the egg so he could hear inside, and sure enough... He heard crackling sounds coming from the egg! The egg began to shake again on it's own, and the roof of the egg started cracking open slowly!

"It's hatching!" Melanie screamed in excitement.

Alex grinned happily at the small little egg and couldn't help but laugh. Then, all of a sudden... The top part of the egg broke off and it revealed a peaceful sleeping Eevee inside!

"Oh... My..." Alex mumbled.

"That's what an Eevee looks like? It's so adorable!" Melanie whispered into his ear.

"Y-Yeah... It really does look cute!" Alex agreed with her.

He put Fennekin down back onto the ground and that made her a bit angry at him all of a sudden... Since he woke her up by doing that. Alex ignored her though and proceeded to pick up the Eevee. Melanie did the same thing with her Pancham, and put him aside next to Fennekin. Alex even took out his Pokédex so that he could scan the adorable little creature!

"Eevee, the Normal Type and Evolution Pokémon. This Pokémon is rarely seen in Kalos, and it has an unstable genetic makeup which allows it to evolve into eight different evolutions, depending on the environment around it! The eon-evolutions for this Pokémon are, Flareon, Glaceon, Leafeon, Jolteon, Sylveon, Vaporeon, Umbreon, and Espeon! Gender: Male!"

"Wow, eight different evolutions!" Melanie exclaimed.

"Yeah, I never knew a Pokémon could have that many evolutions!" Alex was surprised to hear about that.

Fennekin felt uncomfortable next to Pancham, she waited patiently for her Trainer to end his moment with Eevee. Pancham felt the same way about her as well, he took a deep breath and decided to talk to her about their 'little' problem...

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

"Hey Fennekin, can we talk for a bit in private?" Pancham mumbled over to her.

She turned to look at him and slowly nodded her head in agreement. He gave her a quick smirk and they both walked off a bit away from their Trainers.

"What's up?" Fennekin asked, giving him a serious face.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for running off like that back in the forest, I shouldn't have done that to you..." Pancham apologized for what he did.

Fennekin started to smile again and she felt bad for him as well...

"You shouldn't be sorry, it was my fault for being so serious about it earlier..." Fennekin confessed.

She blushed heavily and looked away, trying to hide herself from him, feeling embarrassed for making him run away from her.

"I d-don't even know what else to say to her now..." Pancham wondered.

He started to sweat from being embarrassed, and eventually asked her,

"Do you wanna talk about it later on?"

"Sure Pancham, we can talk about it later." Fennekin nodded her head again and made her way back to Alex and Melanie.

"Good... Now I HAVE to tell her how I feel about her. I can't just lie to her either! That'll make it worse! Does she think I have a crush on her or something?" Pancham thought to himself, freaking out a bit.

He followed her shortly after, and they checked back on Eevee!

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

Alex took one more look at the small Pokémon. He started petting and rubbing his fur and tried to wake Eevee up. Soon after though, Alex got to the point where he accidentally rubbed his Pokémon's ear too hard, and his Eevee's ears moved back suddenly in response! The small little Pokémon slowly woke up, and opened his eyes.

"Ee-e?" Eevee mumbled while getting up.

He looked up and noticed Alex smiling down at him.

"Hi Eevee!" Alex calmly greeted the small Pokémon.

Eevee blinked a couple of times, tilting his head in confusion. Alex started petting him again gently, and introduced himself,

"I'm Alex, and this is my one of my closest friends Melanie."

Melanie blushed lightly when he said the word "closest friends".

"And I'm Melanie, and this here's my partner Pancham!" Melanie introduced herself next.

Pancham climbed up on her shoulder and waved at him.

"And here's Fennekin." Alex exclaimed.

Fennekin did the same thing and rested herself on Alex's shoulder, giving Eevee a short and very friendly wave. However, Eevee started to shake a bit. Everyone noticed it and Alex asked him,

"Hey boy, are you okay?"

"Buii, Bwee!" Eevee mumbled quietly.

He jumped from Alex's arms and started running away in fear!

"Huh? Eevee! Wait!" Alex yelled.

He immediately brought out Starly and told her,

"Starly, I need you to follow that Eevee for us! I don't want him to get lost and end up getting hurt."

"Star! Starly!" Starly nodded and flew up in the air, she spotted Eevee and started flying above him.

"Come on let's go." Alex exclaimed.

They started running towards Starly and saw her flying through another forest.

"What's wrong with Eevee?" Melanie asked, with a worried tone in her voice.

"I don't know, but he was shaking... Almost as if he was scared of us or something!" Alex answered back, not knowing either.

They had to go through bushes that were in the way until they came to a small opening in the forest.

"Eevee! Come out, we're not gonna hurt you!" Alex called out.

That's when he heard Starly chirping at him from above. Alex looked up and she landed on top of his head.

"Did you find where he's at?" Alex questioned her.

Starly nodded and pointed her wing in front of them in the direction Eevee went.

"Thanks Starly!" Alex thanked her and started following in the direction she pointed at.

They came upon a small bush that started to rustle a bit as they got closer to it.

"Eevee, are you in there? Don't be afraid of us." Alex whispered to the bush.

He heard a sniffle when he came closer to the bush, and he pushed the leaves and branches aside. Inside the bush revealed Eevee, hiding from them, looking very afriad.

"VEE!" Eevee screamed and started running away again.

"Wait!" Melanie yelled at the eon Pokémon.

Eevee stopped instantly and turned around in fear. He started to shake again and closed his eyes, looking away from the group.

"Come here boy, I'm not going to hurt you. You shouldn't be afraid of us, we're your friends!" Alex tried to calm him down.

Eevee opened his eyes again and started walking towards Alex slowly. Alex held out his hands in front of him and tried to get Eevee to come to him.

"It's okay!" Alex spoke softly.

Eevee eventually made his way towards Alex and put one of his paws onto his hand. Alex gently picked him up slowly so that he wouldn't startle the Pokémon. He eventually lifted him up to his eye level and looked directly at him. He started petting his back lovingly, and scratched behind his ear gently. Eevee began to smile from the affection he was receiving and he stopped shaking, feeling more calm with Alex.

"Why'd you run off like that? Were you scared of us." Alex asked.

"Ee-bwee..." Eevee mumbled shyly again.

He began to frown and lowered his head, as well as his ears, feeling ashamed of what he did to them...

"Hey it's okay, I'm not mad at you. Who could be mad at something like you? You look like a very nice and adorable little Pokémon!" Alex smiled at him.

Eevee blushed and felt embarrassed from the compliment.

"If you come with me on my journey, we'll have lots of fun together. We're going to travel all of Kalos!" Alex offered.

Eevee started wagging his tail and nodded his head happily, agreeing to Alex's offer.

"Eeveeee!" Eevee shouted and jumped from his arms.

Alex took out a Pokéball and held it out towards the small little Pokémon.

"This won't hurt, I promise." Alex told him.

Eevee trusted him and proceeded to touch the button on the ball, still smiling at Alex. He was instantly sucked into the small device, and the Pokéball began to shake! When the ball stopped moving after a quick shake, Eevee instantly came back out and jumped back into Alex's arms once again! Now all three of his Pokémon were on him...

"Okay, let's start heading back then." Alex said.

Everyone agreed and he started heading back to Route 10, with Melanie following along.

 _ **One moment later...**_

When they got back to Route 10, it was already near sunset and they still haven't found James yet!

"Looks like the day went by pretty quick." Melanie pointed out.

Alex looked up at the sky and noticed it as well.

"Yeah, the day did go by didn't it? I wonder where James is though, are any of you guys hungry?" Alex asked his Pokémon.

All three of them nodded their heads, as well as Pancham too. Melanie decided to bring out her Bagon and carry him as well.

"What about you Bagon? Do you wanna eat soon?" Melanie said.

"Bagon!" Bagon smiled and nodded to her question.

"Alright that settles it then, do you have the cooking supplies with you Melanie?" Alex asked.

Melanie's eyes widened when he asked her that, Alex noticed it and continued to speak on...

"You don't have it... Do you?" Alex sighed.

"I uh... James has it!" Melanie screamed, freaking out.

Alex face palmed himself, they both had no idea where James could be. Until Starly flew in front of Alex's direction of travel.

"Star!" Starly spoke out.

"Do you wanna go ahead and help us look for James? He said he would be around here on Route 10..." Alex asked her.

Starly went ahead and flew up high, and then she started flying ahead.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Alex thought to himself, watching her going up into the sky.

Fennekin on the other hand was deep in thought, she kept noticing Pancham staring at her. And whenever he got noticed, he would look away quickly.

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

"I think it's time we have that chat now..." Fennekin whispered to Pancham.

He sighed and jumped off of Melanie's shoulder. Fennekin met him on the ground and they continued to follow their Trainers from behind.

"What's up?" Pancham wondered.

"Can we talk about it now?" Fennekin asked.

"Fine... What was it you wanted to talk about?" Pancham replied back.

"About earlier, what happened today after my Gym Battle. When we went to the forest... There was a Pichu that teased you about something? At the lake..." Fennekin reminded him.

She didn't want him to think about the question wrongly from earlier...

"Is it true Pancham? Please don't lie... Do you really like me?" Fennekin questioned him.

Pancham started to blush too and took another deep breath...

"It's now or never Pancham..." Pancham thought.

He looked her right in the eye and finally said,

"Was the question you were asking me... About having a c-crush on you?"

He turned around and felt embarrassed about saying the word "crush" in front of her.

"W-What? Crush? N-No! No, I didn't mean it like that at all! I was just thinking you always hated me... Since I attacked you earlier back in that forest on accident..." Fennekin tilted her head and blushed, embarrassed by what he was telling her.

"O-Oh? Is that what you were meaning to say?" Pancham asked back.

"Yeah... Sorry for making you think that way... I just thought you've hated me since we met..." Fennekin sighed.

"No, I don't hate you... It was an accident... I did have a lot of fun with you though back in that forest! I was just trying make myself look cool in front of you... So that I could get on your good side! I actually thought that you didn't like me at first too..." Pancham confessed his secret towards her.

"Of course I don't hate you... W-Wait, so it was just a misunderstanding all for nothing?" Fennekin gasped, feeling completely stupid for causing all of this on her own.

"Well... I guess?" Pancham replied, not knowing what to say to her.

"I'm sorry for being such a stupid idiot... I should've been more clear when I asked you that question earlier... Sorry for causing this between us!" She apologized, feeling humiliated in front of him.

"No, it's not your fault! Let's just move on and forget about this... Okay?" He offered, holding his hand out to grasp hers.

"Deal!" She agreed, shaking his hand in return.

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokémon League (Nighttime) - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=dUZAZt4jAHQ)**_

They continued to travel through Route 10, and Alex's Starly eventually came back down to him.

"Staaarly!" Starly called from above.

She landed back on his shoulder and he asked her,

"What's up girl? Did you find something?"

Starly pointed her wing towards smoke in the sky up ahead. Alex examined the smoke for a while, it was dark and it concerned him a bit.

"Wanna go and check it out?" Melanie suggested.

"Yeah, I could use a break before we get to Geosenge Town, thanks for pointing that out Starly... Who knows if it's a forest fire or not... Otherwise, if it is... Then we'll be in a lot of trouble!" Alex exclaimed.

"Lyy." Starly replied back.

They traveled away from the route they were going on, and they went through another set of bushes close together. The sky was getting darker, and the sun eventually set, causing their vision to decrease!

"Alright guys, stay close... We don't want anyone getting lost." Alex told everyone.

All of their Pokémon kept as close as they could to their Trainers, so that they wouldn't lose sight of them, or get separated. Alex eventually saw a bit of light coming from ahead of them, so he started heading there.

"I see a light!" Alex shouted.

Everyone in the group climbed onto their respective Trainer's and both Alex and Melanie started walking a little bit faster towards the glowing light. They eventually came upon a big opening in the forest, and they saw a camp setup! There were three tents, a small bonfire, and logs from trees that were used for sitting on. They even noticed a small table with Pokémon bowls on them, as well as two other bowls that looked like they had some kind of soup made in them!

"Guess it wasn't a forest fire..." Melanie corrected Alex, giggling at what he thought the smoke was.

"Shut up... Hello! Anyone here?" Alex called out.

In one of the tents, someone quickly came out and yelled back,

"You guys finally made it!"

It was no one other than James himself! Everyone was shocked to see him at a campsite, was he the one who setup a camp for them?

"You made this?" Melanie wondered, she was looking around and was impressed by the look of the site.

"Yeah, but I had some help. Come on out you three!" James replied back and threw three Pokéballs into the air.

All three of his Pokémon came right out, and it shocked Alex and Melanie even more than they already were!

"T-They all evolved?" Alex thought.

The three Pokémon that came out were a Grovyle, Wartortle, and a Fletchinder.

Alex came closer to the three, then he looked at James."

"How'd you get them to evolve so quickly?" Alex asked him.

"Like I said, I spent the entire time here while you guys were in Cyllage City. I told you that I wanted to leave because I wanted to go and train my Pokémon. I started feeling a bit weak because you beat me three times already!" James explained.

He quickly noticed Eevee and Bagon being carried by his two friends.

"Hey! That's an Eevee and a Bagon! Where did you guys find those two Pokémon? I've heard that they're both rare ones to find in Kalos!" James shouted.

He was yelling so loud that it scared Alex's Eevee, and he jumped from his arms. The small Pokémon ran around Alex and hid behind him...

"Don't yell so loud! Melanie got the Bagon back on Route 8, and the Eevee came from that egg we found earlier. I think Eevee is a little shy though, he ran away from us when he first saw us." Alex explained.

"Oh..." James mumbled to himself.

Then he noticed Fennekin and Starly on Alex, his eyes widened in surprise and he asked,

"Your Starly and Fennekin didn't evolve yet?"

Alex looked at Starly, then back to Fennekin, and he sighed.

"No, they haven't... But I like them just the way they are right now. Besides, they both helped me get my second Gym Badge! That's much more important than an evolution! They'll evolve when their ready on their own!" Alex exclaimed.

He showed James his Gym Badge Case, and he was impressed by the victory his friend showed!

"Well, can we battle again tomorrow? Maybe your two Pokémon will evolve if we have another rematch?" James suggested.

"Yeah sure, we can do that! I'm really looking foward to seeing how strong you are now!" Alex agreed, giving him a thumbs up.

They didn't notice that Melanie stepped away from their conversation they were having. She was already at the table eating the soup that was made, along with Pancham and Bagon eating their Pokémon food, which were pellets based on what Type they were!

"I'm still surprised that you managed to do this with your Pokémon, you even cooked food for us. Thanks a lot dude!" Alex thanked him.

"Yeah, it took a while... I had help from Fletchinder making the bonfire, Wartortle helped me with setting up the tents as well as getting the logs to sit on, and Grovyle helped me slice the vegetables and the ingredients I needed to make the soup!" James explained, proud at what he did!

"Again... I'm impressed, you did great man! I'm kinda hungry too, and so are my Pokémon. I can smell the soup all the way from here, is it good?" Alex questioned, smelling the delicious scent from the soup.

"Yeah it's good! My grandfather and I used to cook all the time back in Hoenn, so I'm pretty good at cooking." James exclaimed.

"I'm good at cooking too! But you had all the ingredients in your bag the entire time!" Melanie shouted at them from the table, complaining about it.

Both of them laughed before joining her at the table. When they got there, Fennekin found the Fire Type pellets, grabbed her respective bowl, and sat down next to Pancham. He noticed her and smiled at her action, and she started grinning back at him in return. Soon enough, everyone found what they were suppose to eat!

"Alright everyone, dig in!" James announced.

Everyone started eating their food, until Alex whispered to James,

"Hey, do you mind if I scan your Pokémon again with my Pokédex? I wanna read more info about them!"

James went ahead and nodded his head, allowing Alex to do it.

"Awesome!" Alex thought.

He pulled out his Pokédex and scanned the three Pokémon in front of him.

"Grovyle, the Wood Gecko Pokémon and the evolved form of Treecko. Grovyle has powerful legs which allow it to move quickly and jump with great power. It lives in dense jungles. While closing in on it's prey, it leaps from branch to branch before attacking."

Then he moved onto Wartortle next,

"Wartortle, the Turtle Pokémon and the evolved form of Squirtle. Wartortle is considered to be a sought after Pokémon because it's long fur-covered tail is said to bring good luck."

"Last but not least, Fletchinder." Alex thought.

"Fletchinder, the Ember Pokémon and the evolved form of Fletchling. Once in flight, Fletchinder can reach it's top speed extremely quickly, giving it the edge in battle by attacking it's opponents before they can get prepared to fight back."

He put away his Dex, and resumed eating his food.

"Wow, this soup is really good!" Alex complimented his friend.

James smirked at the compliment he received, he felt good at the food he prepared for everyone.

 _ **A couple of minutes later...**_

When everyone finished their food, their Trainers returned them back into their Pokéballs so that they could get some rest before the next day!

"Alright everyone, I'm off to bed... I'm really tired." Alex yawned.

"Me too, all that Training I did earlier with my Pokémon made me pretty tired today." James joined him, catching the disease of yawning.

"Goodnight." Melanie told them.

An idea popped up in her head, and she decided to stay up a while longer! She watched as her two traveling companions went into their tents, to go to sleep. As soon as they were gone, she was left out there alone, enjoying the beautiful stars shining in the night sky above her.

 _ **Moments later...**_

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

Everyone was asleep... All but Fennekin and Pancham, the two Pokémon wanted to sit by the fire together.

"The fire feels good doesn't it?" Pancham grinned, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the peace and quiet that they had to themselves.

Fennekin couldn't agree more! She enjoyed it as well.

"Yeah, I like it too." Fennekin agreed with him.

"So, I guess we're cool now... Right?" Pancham said.

He made Fennekin blush lightly again, and she nodded her head. She went ahead and moved a bit closer to him, resting her head on the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arm around her and brought her closer to him. Then she started hugging him gently, which made him blush from the huge contact he was receiving from her so suddenly!

"What did you think about Eevee?" Pancham asked her.

"He's kinda shy around other people isn't he? He was scared and he hid behind Alex earlier, then he ran from us too." Fennekin answered back.

"Well yeah, but he'll get used to it eventually. I was the same way when I first hatched from my egg, but then again I was known for being too playful when Melanie took care of me." Pancham chuckled nervously.

Fennekin looked up at him and tilted her head curiously.

"What were you like when you were younger?" Fennekin wondered.

"I uh... I would always eat a lot of food, and I would always get myself into trouble. Like exploring places where I shouldn't be, for example! On the second day that I met Melanie, I decided to sneak out one night and I ended up exploring Santalune Forest on my own. I remember being attacked from a wild Pokémon, and Melanie eventually woke up and came out that night, just to find me. Then, she ended up seeing me on the bridge, I was hurt from the attack. I think it was a Panpour that attacked me that night..." Pancham explained.

Fennekin continued to giggle from the story, she found it funny and that made Pancham feel a little embarrassed in front of her.

"Hey it's okay! There's nothing to be ashamed about it, besides... I've had plenty of embarrassing moments when I was traveling with my previous Trainer." Fennekin confessed, trying to make him feel better.

"Oh yeah? Like what? I told you one of my moments, now you have to make it even!" Pancham played along.

"Okay, fine! The first day I met my previous Trainer Scott, I was walking down a set of stairs in the lobby of Professor Sycamore's lab. Every Pokémon there in the lobby... Watched me trip, and I ended up falling down the stairs... On my 'farewell' party!" Fennekin replied back.

"Did they laugh at you?" Pancham mumbled.

Fennekin nodded her head slightly and she looked back down at the ground, looking upset.

"And to make things worse, I can't stop thinking about my old Trainer, nor the fact that I can't evolve yet..." Fennekin sighed.

Pancham started rubbing her back gently, and wanted to make her feel better. He didn't like the look on her face because she was frowning... So he told her,

"Awwh come on! Don't let that stuff bother you alright? I know you're going to evolve soon, besides... Maybe you and Starly will evolve tomorrow when you fight James again."

"Yeah, I guess... Well, anyways I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm beat!" Fennekin yawned slightly.

Pancham watched her get off of him, and he started feeling bad about it. He didn't want his moment with her to end so quickly, he looked back at the fire and heard her walking away from him.

"Goodnight." Pancham whispered.

He closed his eyes, but he heard footsteps coming towards him again. Pancham turned around and saw Fennekin walking back to him, and that made him confused.

"I thought you were going to-" Pancham started to speak, but he was cutoff by Fennekin giving him a quick kiss on his cheek!

She started to giggle at the look on his face, he was blushing extremely hard, and his cheeks looked as red as a tomato would be like!

"That's for cleaning my tail earlier... And for showing me that beautiful lake, and the apple too... To us being great best friends, forever!" Fennekin whispered back, thanking him for their little hangout today.

She winked at him before walking back to Alex's tent, and left him standing there in complete shock!

"D-Did she just..." Pancham thought.

He fell over and couldn't believe what she did to him, he got his first kiss on the cheek from a girl... Sure it didn't seem like much of a kiss, but it was enough to make him feel happy all of a sudden!

"Hey Pancham!" Melanie called him over.

He quickly got up and ran to his Trainer. When he reached her, he was wondering what she called him for.

"Do you wanna make that one special treat that you like so much? It'll be nice to make some for everyone else wouldn't it?" Melanie offered.

"YEAH!" Pancham yelled, nodding his head so that she could understand him.

"Sshh! Not so loud okay? We don't wanna wake everyone up!" Melanie giggled at his reaction.

He started grinning at her, then he jumped on top of the table so that he could join her. They started making something that they were hoping, everyone would love to snack on in the morning!


	8. Ch 8, An Evolving Battle!

_**Ch. 8, An Evolving Battle!**_

 ** _Translation: (Poké-Language!)_**

It was early morning, and dawn was breaking... The sun was beginning to rise, as the gang were all still asleep! The only two Pokémon that were awake, were Fennekin and Pancham. Fennekin had the idea of watching the sunrise with Pancham together. Both of them enjoyed the sight, usually Fennekin would love to see things like this!

"It's so beautiful ain't it?" Fennekin asked.

She closed her eyes and felt the wind going over her fur.

"Yeah, it really is quite a scene! Oh yeah, that reminds me!" Pancham exclaimed.

He got up and ran to the table, and he eventually came back with a small container in his hands.

"Here, Melanie and I made these for everyone." Pancham told her.

He opened the container and inside were small bite sized round treats that came in a variety of colors!

"What are they?" Fennekin tilted her head curiously.

She grabbed an orange one out of the container, and sniffed it.

"It smells good too!" Fennekin added on.

"Well, a lot of Trainers make these treats for Pokémon just like us. I love eating these, but they're called Poké Puffs." Pancham explained.

Fennekin took another look at the small object, it looked really good to eat too!

"I can eat it right?" Fennekin asked just to be sure.

"Go ahead." Pancham replied back.

He saw her taking a bite out of it and waited for her reaction. The sweetness from the food made her tastebuds explode in joy! She never had a Poké Puff ever in her life before, and then she took another bite, then another, until she finished eating it all! When she did finish eating it, Fennekin had a large grin on her face, wagging her tail to show that she was feeling happy!

"I take it you like it?" Pancham smirked at her, crossing his arms.

"Yeah! That was so good! You and Melanie sure know how to make them tasty!" Fennekin complimented him.

"Thanks." Pancham smiled back.

They stayed quiet for a while until they heard footsteps coming towards them, Fennekin turned around and noticed Eevee walking towards them.

"Eevee? What're you doing up so early?" Fennekin wondered.

Eevee stopped and he started to shake nervously all on his own. Fennekin and Pancham noticed it quickly, and they didn't know what to do about the situation either...

"You alive?" Pancham asked, waving his arm in front of the new Pokémon.

"Y-Y-Yes..." Eevee mumbled quietly.

Fennekin offered him a Poké Puff and held it out towards him.

"Here, try this!" Fennekin offered.

"Um... I- uh..." Eevee continued to mumble.

"Come on don't be shy, we're both teammates now remember? We're also your friends too!" Fennekin whispered to him.

Eevee took a few steps closer to her and he gently grabbed the Poké Puff from her. He took a small nibble on it and sniffed it a few times before taking another small bite. He eventually stuffed it all into his mouth and swallowed it quickly! Then, a smile began to form on his face as he wagged his tail back and fourth rapidly!

"Good huh?" Pancham chuckled at Eevee's response to the treat.

"Y-Yeah! I'm sorry though... I don't speak very much..." Eevee grinned back, but he still spoke soft and quietly.

"See, it's not so bad. I know your shy and all, but you'll get used to it!" Fennekin encouraged him.

"I guess..." Eevee sighed.

He started walking back where he came from, and laid down peacefully on the soft grassy ground. Fennekin turned and focused her attention back to Pancham.

"So, do you think we should wake everyone else up?" Fennekin suggested.

"Maybe? I don't know... Oh! Wait, I know what'll make you even happier!" Pancham shouted, with an idea popping up in his head.

"Tell me!" Fennekin suddenly shouted at him.

She got up all close to him and made him feel uncomfortable...

"Okay! Okay! Chill! Anyways... Like I was saying, I was just thinking if you would want to help me train you and Starly? Maybe it'll help you both evolve so you can catch up to James' team!" Pancham suggested.

"Yeah, I would love that! I wanna get stronger, but how can I get Starly? Her Pokéball is in Alex's bag, which is in his tent!" Fennekin complained.

"I'll try and sneak it out for you, just try and find a spot faraway so that we don't wake anyone up..." Pancham told her.

Fennekin nodded her head and proceeded to find a nice open area for them to train at, while Pancham walked to Alex's tent, and stopped once he reached the entrance to it. He took a deep breath before going inside, and found Alex sound asleep.

"Okay Pancham, you can do this..." Pancham thought.

Pancham tried to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking Alex up, he found his bag and quickly ran to it silently. He looked through it carefully, going through lots of things that were in the bag, until he pulled out two Pokéballs!

"Which one is Starly in?" Pancham mumbled to himself.

He looked back to back between the two balls, and heard quiet footsteps coming from the entrance to the tent. Pancham looked back and noticed Eevee staring at him.

"Uh..." Pancham spoke.

"What're you doing?" Eevee wondered, giving him a confused look.

Seeing Eevee made Pancham's heart beat rapidly. He thought that Eevee was going to tell Alex that he was taking his stuff without permission to do so...

"I uh... I was going to get Starly to come and train with me and Fennekin, do you want to join us?" Pancham offered.

"I guess? I don't know what you mean by training... So I might as well tag along?" Eevee decided to go with it anyways.

Pancham quickly took both of the Pokéballs and made his way outside with Eevee. He saw Fennekin waiting in the far distance and started traveling towards her, with Eevee following behind.

"So, what's training?" Eevee questioned.

"It's basically Pokémon battles, except they're for fun kind of..." Pancham explained.

"Battles? You mean like fighting? I-I can't really f-fight, I'm n-new to this stuff! Please don't m-make me battle! I'm not-" Eevee panicked, losing his mind over the thought of battling.

"Calm down... You don't have to battle don't worry, you just hatched from your egg..." Pancham told him.

Eevee sighed in relief and lowered his ears, no longer worried about the battle.

"Don't get too comfortable though, I'm sure Alex is gonna make you battle one day eventually." Pancham continued speaking.

He made Eevee feel a lot worse than he already was, and eventually saw Fennekin walking towards them. When she finally reached him, she saw the Pokéballs in his hands and smiled at him.

"You did it! Did he wake up at all?" Fennekin asked.

Pancham shook his head and continued walking past her.

"No, but Eevee wanted to come and see the battle if that's alright with you?" Pancham exclaimed.

"It's fine, I'll teach Eevee how to fight another time... Okay Eevee?" She said.

She saw Eevee shaking again and knew he was either nervous or scared about something she said.

"What's wrong now?" Fennekin groaned.

"Nothing! It's just that I'm a bit nervous about fighting..." Eevee mumbled.

She could barely hear his voice because he was so quiet.

"You can watch us battle and then learn a thing or two." Fennekin replied.

"O-Okay." Eevee agreed.

That's when they finally had a spot to train at. Pancham threw one of the Pokéballs into the air and released Starly. However... They were hoping that Starly was awake, but she was still sleeping.

"Really?" Pancham rolled his eyes.

"Now what do we do? Starly and I have to evolve as soon as possible!" Fennekin shouted at him.

Eevee jumped back from the sudden shout, but he quickly walked back to them and suggested,

"I don't think we should wake her up."

"We have to though!" Pancham spoke.

He ignored the evolution Pokémon and proceeded to use Tackle on Starly, so he could wake her up. When he collided with her, she instantly woke up and panicked suddenly!

"WHA? Okay! I'm awake!" Starly screamed.

"Sshh! Keep it down!" Pancham told her.

She looked back at the Panda-like Pokémon and gave him a killer look.

"What is wrong with you? The sun isn't even fully out yet!" Starly kept yelling at him.

"Okay look, I know you're upset right now... But believe me! Fennekin wanted to train with you so that both of you could evolve!" Pancham explained.

Starly eventually calmed down and realized what he wanted to do.

"Oh... I'm sorry for yelling so loud." Starly apologized.

"It's fine." Pancham replied back.

"So, when can we begin?" Fennekin asked, waiting patiently.

"Right now! Just decide who's gonna go first, then I'll attack." Pancham exclaimed.

Fennekin and Starly both exchanged looks at each other, trying to figure out who wanted to go first.

"You can go first! No... You!" Both of them spoke out at the exact same time.

"How about this, I'll choose Starly first... Because Fennekin, you're probably going to knock me out as soon as the battle begins." Pancham laughed.

Fennekin rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself, she pictured it happening in her head. She went right over to Eevee, and sat down next to him.

"You might wanna watch the battles okay? You might learn a thing or two from them." Fennekin whispered.

Eevee nodded his head slightly and had a worried look on his face too.

"Okay Starly, I'll let you attack me first!" Pancham shouted.

Without hesitating, Starly quickly flew towards Pancham at a great speed, and used Quick Attack on him. Pancham didn't expect the move to hit him so fast and hard, so he flew back a bit.

"H-Hey!" I wasn't ready yet!" Pancham shouted, rubbing his back gently.

"You said I could attack first!" Starly laughed.

"Yeah but..." Pancham mumbled slightly, he looked over to his left and saw Fennekin giggling like a maniac.

"Fennekin!" Pancham yelled.

She quickly regained focus and looked back at him, giving him her fullest attention.

"What's up?" Fennekin replied back, chuckling quietly at him.

"It's not that funny..." Pancham sighed.

"Yes it is! You weren't even ready for it!" Fennekin started laughing again.

"How about this, we'll have a free for all battle. Every Pokémon for themselves, and... Go!" Pancham announced.

He instantly threw a Dark Pulse at Fennekin by surprise, but she dodged it anyway! However, Fennekin was angry at him because it took her by surprise, so she returned the favor by shooting an Ember attack back at him.

"You think that's gonna work?" Pancham gave her a smirk and then quickly jumped out of the way.

Then, Starly started flying towards Pancham and instantly tackled him into the ground. She was now on top of him and he couldn't really get back up easily.

"Nows my chance!" Fennekin thought.

She trotted her way over to the two and Pancham noticed her. He looked up at her with pleading eyes and said,

"Please don't do it..."

Fennekin thought about it for a while and looked back at him.

"Let me think... You DID make those delicious treats for everyone, but then again you also woke up Starly in a very rude way. Plus you surprised me from that Dark Pulse too, sooo..." Fennekin replied back.

Pancham rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat, he knew what was about to happen next...

"What kind of team is this anyway? A girls only team against me?" Pancham complained.

"Yep! And Psybeam!" Fennekin shouted at him.

She summoned a bright pink projectile and shot it directly at him! There was a huge explosion, but it wasn't really that loud. Pancham couldn't react to it, and Starly easily got away from the attack before she got caught in it herself. When Starly got back to Fennekin, they winked at each other and laughed at him. Pancham got back up slowly and looked at the two.

"R-Really? That move actually hurt!" Pancham mumbled to himself.

"You give up yet?" Starly called.

"I think you two should just battle each other instead of me!" Pancham cried out.

"Why?" Fennekin tilted her head in confusion.

"Because I can't take both of you on, and besides you two battling would be fun to watch!" Pancham cheered.

"So you're just gonna quit because we're teaming on you?" Fennekin sighed.

"Yep." Pancham replied back, crossing his arms.

She looked at him in disbelief, until he started making his way towards Eevee. That's when she sighed again and felt bad for him, but she was interrupted by Starly.

"Wanna just get it started? No holding back!" Starly spoke.

Fennekin stared back at Starly and felt determined to beat her, she did a backflip into the air and landed back further away.

"Yeah let's go!" Fennekin shouted.

She started off the fight with an Ember right away!

"That move won't work on me." Starly laughed and flew up high to avoid it.

"Because you're flying and I can't!" Fennekin complained.

Fennekin tried another move and used Psybeam, but she ended up missing again.

"Grrr..." Fennekin growled in annoyance.

Starly noticed this and decided to use Double Team, soon... There were more clones of her in the sky surrounding Fennekin.

"W-What? Which one do I attack?" Fennekin thought.

She looked around at the clones and tried to figure out which one was real, but she couldn't. The clones started flying closer to her and Fennekin braced herself for whatever was about to happen to her. Starly used Quick Attack and the clones started rapidly hitting Fennekin quickly. But she was ready for it, so she did a couple of flips in the air and tried her best to avoid the moves, flipping constantly and jumping around the clones that were attacking. Luckily, she successfully dodged all of the clones and they started disappearing when they missed!

"Yes! Dodged them without breaking a sweat!" Fennekin laughed, proud of herself.

When the Double Team finally ended, Starly landed back onto the ground feeling tired. This was Fennekin's chance to attack now.

"Sorry I have to do this Starly..." Fennekin thought.

She immediately charged at her friend and blindsided her with a Psybeam. The attack hit her directly in the face and she flew back from the impact. Starly got up quickly though but she was knocked down by Fennekin again with another Psybeam.

"Ow, hey!" Starly shouted.

Fennekin ignored her though and she landed on top of Starly. She made sure that Starly couldn't move, then... Fennekin used Tail Whip on her.

"This isn't fair! I can't even move! Get off Fennekin!" Starly complained.

Fennekin continued ignoring her and used Psybeam once again. Starly couldn't take it though and felt a lot of pain from the attack.

"Ahh! W-What're you doing? You're taking this too seriously!" Starly yelled at her.

But that didn't stop Fennekin at all, she just continued to rapidly use Psybeam. Soon enough, Fennekin saw Starly looking up at her with pleading eyes, and began to cry.

"P-Please stop! That h-hurts a lot!" Starly sobbed from the painful attack.

"Fennekin! Stop it, you're taking this way too far! It's a friendly battle, remember?" Pancham shouted.

Fennekin didn't stop though, she just continued to fire Psybeam rapidly and rapidly, until Pancham finally had enough.

"Go get Alex..." Pancham whispered to Eevee.

"O-Okay!" Eevee replied back quickly, he started running towards Alex's tent.

After a couple of minutes had passed, Pancham eventually saw Alex walking towards him with Eevee next to him. Alex gasped when he saw Fennekin and Starly. Starly was crying nonstop, and Fennekin just kept on using the same move on her over and over again.

"Fennekin! Stop it right now!" Alex yelled.

That made Fennekin freeze in fear, she felt her heart skip a beat. She turned around and noticed the look on her Trainer's face.

"What're you doing to her? Can't you see that she's crying? She can't take it anymore!" Alex continued to shout.

He quickly walked up to his partner and grabbed her fast so that she would stop.

"N-NO! PLEASE LET ME GO!"" Fennekin screamed at the top of her lungs.

She tried to escape from his grasp, but that made Alex hold onto her tighter than before.

"What's gotten into you? You're never like this!" Alex said.

He held her as tight as he could, but that made her even more angry. Fennekin saw Starly getting back up slowly and she couldn't take anymore of this.

"I SAID LET ME GOOO!" Fennekin shrieked angrily.

She had enough of this, so she bit down on his arm!, Trying to make him flinch!

"OW! F-FENNEKIN?" Alex shouted.

He eventually let go of her and Fennekin fell down. She quickly got up and ran at Starly as fast as she could. Alex saw her and started running towards her again.

"You're not getting up! Stay down!" Fennekin said.

"F-F-Fennekin! P-Please stop!" Starly continued to cry.

Fennekin ignored her and used yet another Psybeam attack on her. Starly fell back down, and Fennekin pounced on top of her.

"Nothing you say or do will stop me!" Fennekin told her.

She picked up Starly with her mouth and threw her against a nearby tree! Then, when Starly landed back onto the grass, Fennekin used Ember and Psybeam at the same time, combining the two moves into one! Starly saw the projectile coming closer and closer to her, she closed her eyes and braced herself, but then she opened her eyes again when she heard Alex say,

"Starly! Come on dodge it!"

She looked back at the Fiery Psybeam and then back to Fennekin.

"No! That's... ENOUGH!" Starly screamed out loud.

She flew away from the attack and instantly had a blueish whitish light surrounding her body! It was really shiny too, the light pretty much blinded everybody around her!

"S-Starly?" Alex mumbled.

He watched as his Pokémon was changing shape and size too! When the light finally died down, the Pokémon that was revealed wasn't a Starly, but it was a Staravia instead! Everyone gasped in surprise, all except for Fennekin...

"Starly, is that you?" Alex asked.

His Staravia nodded her head at him, then the bird Pokémon flew back to Fennekin.

"You're going to pay!" Staravia shouted.

She tackled Fennekin and held her by her neck with her claw, refusing to let go.

"No wait! Stop please!" Fennekin replied, freaking out.

"Why should I? You know how much pain you just caused me? Those attacks actually hurt a lot!" Staravia continued yelling at her.

"I did it for a good reason! Look, I'm sorry I hurt you that much... I did it so that you could evolve!" Fennekin explained her reasoning.

Staravia looked down at herself and noticed it too! She evolved and looked back at Fennekin, who started to grin happily!

"Oh! I'm... I'm, s-sorry about what I did..." Staravia apologized and let go of her, feeling ashamed.

"It's alright... *pant* I... I should be the one who's sorry though for hurting you like that..." Fennekin confessed as well.

"It's okay, but you should've told me before though... Right now I bet Alex will probably be very mad at you..." Staravia smiled.

"I know I probably deserve it after that..." Fennekin rolled her eyes and giggled along with her.

Both of them saw Pancham and Eevee next to them and both of them had worried looks on their faces.

"What's wrong?" Fennekin asked.

"What was that all about?" Pancham asked back.

"Y-Yeah, that was pretty scary!" Eevee agreed with him.

"I did it so that she could evolve! Pushing her was the only way!" Fennekin answered.

Both Eevee and Pancham looked at Staravia, and she nodded her head.

"Oh..." Pancham sighed in relief.

"Yeah bu-" Eevee spoke, but he was cutoff from an angry voice shouting at them.

"FENNEKIN!" Alex was furious!

He walked up to Fennekin and picked her up quick, she started getting scared and closed her eyes, afraid of what was going to come next.

"I'm in big trouble now..." Fennekin thought to herself.

She started shaking in fear and braced herself from getting hit, but that never happened...

"Explain to me what that was all about!" Alex yelled.

Staravia decided to stick up for her friend, so she flew in front of Alex and tried to tell him.

"Alex don't punish her, she was helping me evolve!" Staravia talked softly.

"Yeah! She's innocent!" Pancham joined in.

"Alex, calm down!" Eevee spoke up as well.

Alex looked at all four of them, he had somewhat of an idea of what they were trying to tell him...

"You're saying that Fennekin didn't mean it right?" Alex wondered, hoping that was what they were telling him.

They all nodded their heads and Fennekin looked up at her Trainer with pleading eyes.

"Fennekin, is that true?" Alex whispered to her, staring her straight in the eye.

"Y-Y-Yes!" Fennekin began to cry a bit, nodding her head.

"Don't cry, please don't! I'm not mad if you didn't mean to do it..." Alex tried cheering her up.

He tried his best to understand what they were telling him, and he wished he could understand their language too...

"Look girl, whatever it was... I'm sure you did it for a good reason. Stop crying okay? I'm not mad at you anymore... Nothing you say or do will never stop me from loving you as a partner. Truth is... You're more than just a partner to me, you're like a younger sister that I have to take care of sometimes, heh-heh..." Alex mumbled back, smiling to himself after what he just said to her.

He whipped her tears away and started hugging her tightly...

"I-I'm sorry." Fennekin sobbed.

Alex held her out in front of him and told her,

"Stop this right now okay? I love you alright? You're my partner, and you'll always be my partner. If you're scared of me abandoning you... Trust me, I won't ever let you go... Not like your previous Trainer did..." Alex continued whispering to her.

He went on and fixed the bow on top of her head, and started rubbing her cheek gently. That's when Fennekin looked up at him and realized how much he truly cared about her. She felt her heart pounding and had a mixture of emotions running around in her head!

"A-Alex..." Fennekin thought.

That's when the shining blue light surrounded her next... She felt herself growing and her power increasing too, she was finally evolving!

"Fennekin!" Alex gasped in joy.

He let go of her and saw her changing her form as well! Fennekin continued to grow in size, until she was almost Alex's height! When the flashing light ended, Alex opened his eyes again and saw her evolved self! His Fennekin, finally evolved into a Braixen!

"Both of you evolved!" Alex shouted happily.

"I-I did?" Braixen wondered.

She looked down at herself and discovered her evolved form!

"I evolved!" Braixen screamed in joy!

"Nice!" Staravia congratulated her.

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

Alex took the chance to scan both of them with his Pokédex and read the info about his two Pokémon!

"Staravia, the flying Starling Pokémon, and the evolved form of Starly. They live in forests and fields, recognizing their own weakness, they often live together in a group with others of its kind." The Pokédex explained.

"Cool!" Alex smiled as he looked back at Staravia.

He scanned Braixen next and read more info about her too!

"Braixen, the Fox Pokémon, and the evolved form of Fennekin. It has a twig stuck in its tail. With friction from its tail fur, it sets the twig on fire and launches into battle, using it as a weapon for combat. It also uses the flame on the twig to send signals to its allies, whenever it is feeling in trouble." Alex read it out loud.

Staravia flew back on Alex's shoulder and chirped joyfully. Alex on the other hand, didn't expect them to evolve. He petted Staravia lovingly and noticed Braixen staring at him with an adorable light pink colored blush on her face!

"Man... I've gotta admit this but, She looks really cute now..." Alex thought.

The bow on her head remained there after the evolution, and the blush on her face grew even more noticeable to him.

"Braix!" Braixen giggled and tried to hug Alex, but she slipped and face planted into the ground instantly!

"W-Woah! Easy there Braixen. You okay?" Alex asked, quickly rushing over to aid her.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her back up slowly off of the ground. When she finally got up, Alex put her arm around his shoulder and he held onto her.

"What's wrong?" Alex whispered directly into her ear.

"Brai? Braixen..." Braixen looked at her hand and then stared back down at the rest of her body.

"Oh I get it... You have hands and only two legs now! It must be kinda difficult huh?" Alex exclaimed.

"Braix-en!" Braixen nodded her head slowly and felt humiliated by it.

"It's okay Braixen! We'll practice together alright?" Alex tried cheering her up.

"Braixen!" Braixen sighed in relief and hugged him in return as a "thank you!".

"Heh... Okay then, let's take it slow." Alex kept on whispering to her.

He started walking very slowly so that she could keep up with him. She took a few steps one after the other, until she started getting the hang of it.

"See! Not so bad right?" Alex smiled at her.

"Brai!" Braixen agreed with him and smiled back.

She stopped holding onto Alex, and took even more steps without his support.

"Nice job Braixen!" Alex cheered her on.

He decided to leave the Fire Type Fox Pokémon alone and went back to his tent, leaving the rest of them alone to each other. When he got back to the campsite area, he saw Melanie at the lunch table from last night! She was holding a large container filled with colorful objects inside! You could tell that she just woke up, considering how her long hair looked in the morning... It was a real mess! He made his way over to her and took a seat. He examined the container that she was holding and thought to himself,

"What in the world are those things?"

Melanie noticed him sitting by her, and she looked over behind him.

"Good morning Alex! I heard you yelling earlier..." Melanie greeted.

"Yeah I... It was nothing, really! Fennekin and Starly evolved though." Alex replied back.

"I noticed based on their appearance! That Braixen of yours though... She looks really cute! Did you notice the stick in her tail? And how the fur on her waist also resembles a skirt?" Melanie pointed out.

Alex turned around and looked at Braixen, it was true! It looked as if she was wearing a skirt, considering the tiny fur hair-strands on her waist were sticking up slightly.

"Now that you mention it, she does look cuter than before!" Alex laughed, agreeing with her point.

He completely forgot about the container that she had, and he pointed at it next, still wondering what was inside of it.

"I've been meaning to you ask this, but what are those things in there?" Alex asked, pointing to the container on the table in front of him.

"Oh, these? They're called Poké Puffs! Try one!" Melanie happily answered back.

She took the lid off of the container and gave him a pink colored one. Alex heard footsteps heading towards them from behind, he turned around and saw Eevee trotting his way over to them!

"Hey Eevee, wanna try a Poké Puff with me?" Alex offered his Pokémon.

"Vee-ee!" Eevee jumped onto the table and noticed the Poké Puff in his hand.

"The pink colored ones are the sweet flavored puffs!" Melanie explained.

"Got it, I'm sure Eevee and I will love them!" Alex grinned.

He split the Puff into two equal pieces, and fed one to Eevee.

"There you go buddy." Alex spoke calmly, scratching behind his Pokémon's ear in the process.

"Bweee." Eevee closed his eyes and enjoyed the affection he was receiving!

His Pokémon took a bite out of the food and a huge smile started to form on his face instantly!

"Like it?" Melanie asked.

Eevee looked at her and nodded his head to answer her question.

Alex started eating his side of the Poké Puff and his mouth widened instantly when he swallowed it. Melanie noticed the look on his face and started to giggle.

"You like it too huh?" Melanie smirked at him.

"IT'S... PERFECT! We gotta get James and the others to try them! They're really good!" Alex complimented her.

Just then, they woke up James and he came outside to see them staring at him.

"Morning you two!" James greeted.

He looked around and noticed the other Pokémon playing with each other, and he even noticed Braixen and Staravia!

"Wait a minute..." James thought, scratching his chin.

"They both evolved, it was awesome! We HAVE to battle later on!" Alex suggested.

"Nice! I'm sure they're pretty strong too! Your Braixen is having a hard time walking though..." James pointed out.

"Yeah, she's not used to it yet... Just gotta give her a bit, getting used to it... Then she'll be ready to go in no time!" Alex sighed in response.

"I get it, going from four legs to two seems like a pretty difficult task for her. But don't worry about it, all Pokémon get used to that stuff within an hour or so of their evolution changes." James patted him on the back.

Then the Poké Puffs caught his eye and he took a seat next to him.

"Are those Poké Puffs?" James asked, pointing at them.

"Mhm! Try them." Melanie smiled at him and offered one to him.

"What're the flavors?" James wondered, looking at all the various colors of puffs!

"The red ones are spicy, pink is sweet, and the blue ones taste exactly like an Oran Berry would taste, they're the juicy ones! The green ones are sour, and the purple ones are filled with berry juice! They're all unique in a way, and they're great with taste! Pancham and I went out into the forest to pick some berries last night together, then we spent an hour or so just making them! It was actually really quick, simple, and easy to do!" Melanie explained.

"They look delicious, but I'll pass on them. I don't really eat any sweets in the morning, but I'm sure the Pokémon will enjoy them!" James replied back, trying not to hurt her feelings.

"It's okay. Hey Alex, where are we going next?" Melanie exclaimed, looking excited for the day ahead of them!

"I think the next town is Geosenge Town, but we probably won't leave until a while later! In the mean time... I wanna check out Eevee's evolutions!" Alex said.

He pulled out his Pokédex and scanned his Eevee, soon... The Dex showed him lots of different pictures of Pokémon that were all evolved forms of Eevee!

"Wow, Grant was right! There ARE a lot of evolutions for Eevee!" Alex announced, while Melanie sat closer to Alex to look at the screen.

"Yeah, whoever knew Eevee had that many evolutions!" James agreed, looking at them as well.

"Let's go through all of them!" Alex exclaimed, clicking on one of the images.

The Pokédex then showed them a Flareon, and it began to talk,

"Flareon, the Fire Type Pokémon. Eevee can evolve into these Pokémon if they're exposed to a Fire Stone."

Then it showed them a Vaporeon,

"Vaporeon, the Water Type Pokémon. Eevee will evolve into this if it interacts with a Water Stone."

Then a Jolteon,

"The Thunder Stone will also affect Eevee as well, it'll evolve into a Jolteon, the Electric Type Pokémon."

Next, Umbreon,

"The Dark Type Pokémon, Umbreon. Eevee can evolve into this Pokémon if your friendship with it is tremendously great. There's a chance that it could evolve into an Umbreon at night."

Espeon was next on the list,

"If your friendship is really great with Eevee, it might evolve into an Espeon during the day, a Psychic Type Pokémon."

Glaceon and Leafeon eventually came too,

"Glaceon, the Ice Type Pokémon. If you train an Eevee near an icy rock, it'll evolve into a Glaceon."

"Leafeon, the Grass Type Pokémon. Training Eevee near a grassy covered rock in a forest, will make it evolve into a Leafeon."

Last but not least, Sylveon.

"And Sylveon, the Fairy Type Pokémon. Eevee can evolve into this Pokémon if you give it enough love and affection, and if it knows a Fairy Type move as well.

Alex put down his Pokédex and stared blankly at his Eevee.

"Eev?" Eevee tilted his head and smiled brightly.

"You have a lot of evolutions... You must be pretty darn lucky to have the power in you to do that." Alex told him.

"Bwee! Vee!" Eevee laughed and blushed lightly, feeling embarrassed in front of everyone.

Eventually, their Pokémon came back to them. All of them noticed the Poké Puffs and they quickly surrounded the container!

"You guys want some?" Melanie offered.

As soon as she finished her sentence, Grovyle, Wartortle, and Fletchinder came out of their Pokéballs and joined the group as well!

Soon enough, every Pokémon started grabbing their own Puffs, while Pancham and Braixen stayed back from the rest of the group. They both sat by the campfire together and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere around them.

"So when can we have that battle Alex? I spent the entire day yesterday fighting other Trainers around the area here, and I want to challenge you next too!"

Alex gave him a quick smirk and felt confident with his reply,

"As soon as the Pokémon here are finished eating their Puffs, then we can have a triple battle!" Alex replied back.

He looked at Eevee and saw the worried look on his face. Alex rubbed the top of his head gently and whispered to him saying,

"Are you okay with battling buddy? I know it's your first battle, but I'll make sure you don't get hit that much okay?"

Eevee nodded his head slightly, still having a concerned look on his face.

"Awwh, it's okay Eevee. I don't think any Pokémon would be too rough on you. You're way too cute!" Melanie grinned at the small Pokémon and she saw his cheeks turning into a dark shade of crimson red.

She couldn't resist it, she just picked him up and gently scratched behind his ear. Upon the contact though, his tail started wagging slightly back and fourth and he closed his eyes, smiling back at the affectionate rub! Meanwhile, Pancham and Braixen were still resting!

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

Pancham looked over to the rest of the group and saw all of his friends enjoying the treats he made them. He sighed when he saw that the container was pretty much empty now...

"What's wrong?" Braixen asked, not giving him any eye contact.

"They ate all of the Poké Puffs Melanie and I made for them, looks like I should go and find lots of berries for her..." Pancham explained back.

"Calm down, I'll help you find berries some other day okay? Besides, I'm not really used to THESE things yet..." Braixen spoke softly and stared blankly at her hands.

"Does it feel weird?" Pancham wondered, looking at her in a serious tone.

"Yeah, but now I can do things that I couldn't normally do before. Like picking things up without using my mouth, and I don't know what this stick does either." Braixen laughed.

She looked at her tail and quickly pulled the stick out of it. As soon as the stick came out, it immediately caught on fire and she held it like a weapon!

"Woah! That's pretty cool! You might be able to use that when you battle!" Pancham gasped all of a sudden.

"Heh, yeah I think I have to right? So this is what it feels like for our Trainers huh?" Braixen smiled at him.

"If you mean by walking on two legs, then yes... Some other Pokémon go through major evolution changes as well. I mean, look at Starly now. She evolved and could also probably carry us to explore more places around here." Pancham suggested.

"Do you want to explore later on? There's probably nothing out here but wild Pokémon." Braixen giggled to herself.

Pancham nodded his head in agreement and grinned happily. That's when their friend Staravia, joined them and wanted to ask Pancham something.

"Hey Pancham, could I excuse you for just a second?" Staravia politely asked.

"Go ahead, ask me anything." Pancham gave her a smirk.

"Do you want to hop on my back and fly around?" Staravia offered.

"Sure, but after that can we get some berries too?" Pancham asked back.

Staravia tilted her head in confusion and looked over to Braixen.

"He wants to get berries for Melanie, so she can make those puffs again!" Braixen explained.

"Oh... Well why didn't you just say so? I can take you to find lots of berries in the forest!" Staravia smiled at him.

Pancham rubbed the back of his head, continuing to smile back at her. He went ahead and jumped up on top of her and held on as tight as he could. Braixen yawned and then decided to leave the two alone, so she went back to her Trainer, wondering what he was up to.

"Ready?" Staravia asked, just to be sure that he was securely on her.

"Yep, let's go!" Pancham agreed and Staravia immediately took off with great speed!

She started flying towards the nearby forest next to the camp, and kept looking back at Pancham to see if he was okay with the speed she was going at. She discovered that he was closing his eyes and had a very tight grip on her back, Staravia sighed and started to chuckle to herself.

"Do you want me to go slower?" Staravia wondered.

"Please do... You're going way too fast for me to even hang on!" Pancham started panicking.

"Okay! Okay! Besides, were almost there anyways." Staravia replied back, still laughing from earlier.

She slowed down her speed and they started traveling at a much slower, relaxing speed. Eventually though, they got to the forest and Pancham started keeping an eye out for berries.

 _ **Minutes later...**_

Both of them kept on searching for berries, but sadly there weren't any berries at all! Nothing but trees and bushes with apples in them, and flowers that weren't even bloomed yet. It was quite strange considering it was the middle of Spring, and lots of the flowers were like that too.

"That's really strange, these flowers haven't bloomed yet..." Pancham pointed out.

Staravia stopped flying and landed on the ground again, then she looked around and observed the place around them.

"You're right, it's pretty strange isn't it?" Staravia agreed with him.

That's when they heard rustling going on in a nearby bush next to them. They started backing away from whatever was about to pop out of it, but nothing ever came... Until they heard a crashing sound nearby, which startled both of them a bit.

"W-What was that?" Pancham wondered, shivering in fear.

"Oww! H-Hey! I thought he told you not to do that to me!" A voice came out of nowhere.

"Hehehe! Who? Oh..." Another voice appeared as well.

"Why did you bring me here?" The first voice asked in an angry tone.

"Because it's that time of year again! You know how mad he can get when you don't do your job as soon as possible, some of the forests in this region need you right now because spring is already here!" The second voice replied back.

"Ugh... I just finished Johto yesterday! Now you want me to do this one? I'm already tired enough as it is!" The first voice spoke back in annoyance.

"Do it or I'm telling him! You wouldn't want to get punished now would you?" The second voice started giggling.

"Fine, I'll do it..." The first voice sighed in defeat, and flew straight out of the bush, which made Pancham and Staravia gasp in shock.

The voice was coming from a Pokémon, and it stopped it's tracks when it spotted Staravia and Pancham staring at it.

"Um... What's wrong with your faces?" The Pokémon wondered.

"Y-You're..." Pancham pointed at it, still surprised at seeing the Pokémon's appearance.

"Hehe! The one and only!" The Pokémon started flying into the air and did a quick flip in the air.

The Pokémon was none other than the Mythical Pokémon, Celebi!

"Wait, that's?" Staravia looked at the Pokémon again and examined it for a while longer

"C-Celebi?" Pancham exclaimed.

"Yeah you got it right! I'm quite surprised that you actually knew my name though! How did you know?" Celebi giggled at him.

"I've heard stories about what you look like! So I just assumed it was you!" Pancham bowed down to the mythical creature.

Celebi flew around them with a huge smile on his face and asked them,

"So, what brings you guys here in this forest hm?"

"Um, we were just looking for berries!" Pancham answered back.

Celebi tilted his head in confusion and was shocked by the answer, then Celebi frowned.

"Why would you want to come here though? Obviously I haven't done my work yet in this region, but I have to bloom the flowers and berries so that Pokémon can enjoy living here!" Celebi explained.

"So that's why the flowers weren't bloomed yet!" Staravia said.

"Yep, that's right. It's my job to make sure that every forest in every region has berries and food to grow so that Pokémon can live in these kinds of places! I can also travel in time too! But sadly... I can't really interact with anyone because I'm worried that Pokémon Hunters will capture me and try to steal my power..." Celebi sighed.

"I get it... Being a legendary must be hard then huh?" Pancham questioned her.

"Sometimes I like it, mostly because we get to hangout at a really cool place from time to time when we're not doing anything! It's a lot of fun, I wish I could tell you all about it. But I have a job to do! And I think my creator will probably be angry at me if I don't do it right away." Celebi smiled.

"Creator?" Staravia mumbled.

"I can't really say his name but... Unless you guys can keep a secret?" Celebi whispered.

"Yeah sure, we won't tell anyone at all! We promise!" Pancham crossed his heart.

Staravia did the same thing as well, and Celebi started giggling again at the two.

"Okay then, The Pokémon that created me... Or 'The God' I should say heh... Everyone calls God, Arceus. The God Pokémon that shaped the world!" Celebi started grinning happily at them.

"Wow, really? That must be a powerful Pokémon! Do you think we can meet him?" Pancham asked, feeling excited all of a sudden.

"Maybe if we meet again, I don't know if the others will allow me to bring you two with me, but I have to go. So I guess this is goodbye for now..." Celebi waved at them, then he started flying really fast around them, leaving a bright green light behind his path.

The light started turning into a bright lime greenish powder, and then it dissolved quickly when it touched the bushes and trees around them. Immediately, the flowers started to bloom and lots of berries started to appear instantly. It was quite a beautiful sight! Leaving Pancham and Staravia gasping in shock once again, as they saw Celebi taking off at full speed.

"Woah." Staravia exclaimed.

"You can say that again, did you see that? How lucky are we huh? Getting to meet a legendary Pokémon like that!" Pancham started yelling happily.

Both of them proceeded to pick all kinds of berries that they could carry back with them, and they started making their way back to the camp. But they were stopped by the other voice coming from the same bush that told them,

"Don't tell any other Pokémon or Human alright?"

Pancham and Staravia didn't reply back to the voice, but it was enough to make them head back in such a rush! When they got back to the camp, they weren't noticed by their Trainers or their other friends either. The first person they went to was Melanie, and they were carrying many berries with them! Pancham tried his best to hold onto as many as he could, luckily he didn't drop any, and they managed to bring back just enough to give to Melanie. They caught her attention and she smiled wide when she saw Pancham walking up to her with lots of berries in his arms.

"Pancham? Did you and Staravia get these berries for me?" Melanie spoke.

"We sure did! We got them just for you, so you can make more Poké Puffs with them!" Pancham nodded his head and offered her the berries he was holding out.

"Wow... Thank you so much, both of you! I'll be sure to make you two a very special Poké Puff when I make them next time!" Melanie winked at both of them and carefully took the berries from Pancham, putting them away into her bag.

She left both of them alone and they saw Braixen heading over towards them. Staravia leaned in towards Pancham's ear and whispered,

"Do you think we should tell her?"

Pancham shook his head and replied back by saying,

"We should keep Celebi a secret, plus that other voice told us not to tell anyone either!"

Staravia agreed with him and they were going to try their best to keep the secret to themselves.

"That's a lot of berries that you guys brought back! Where did you find them anyway?" Braixen wondered, smiling wide at both of them.

"Um... We found them in that forest over there." Pancham pointed behind her.

Braixen looked back and saw where they went, so she walked over to Staravia and told her,

"Guess you guys had a pretty easy time then getting the berries, but anyways... Staravia, Alex and James are about to have their rematch in a bit. They're just packing up all the stuff then we'll probably head out okay?"

"I'm ready to battle, I'm excited too! I think we both learned new moves right?" Staravia asked back.

"Not sure, guess we'll have to find out during battle though huh?" Braixen said.

"What about Eevee?" Pancham joined the conversation.

"Not sure if he's going to battle or not, but I just can't stop thinking about Kalos. Being stuck with my old Trainer was pretty terrible, but I'm glad we have great Trainers!" Braixen laughed.

"I feel the same way too Braixen, hopefully we'll help Alex achieve his dream huh?" Staravia agreed with her, adjusting the scarf she was wearing.

"We'll just have to try our hardest, then we'll see for ourselves! Besides, since you evolved... You don't have to worry about fainting so easily, you've gotten a lot stronger and I can tell!" Braixen encouraged her.

"T-Thanks!" Staravia accepted the compliment and smiled back at her friend.

The three of them saw Alex and James walking towards them, along with their fellow Pokémon too. When they finally made it to them, Alex and James both explained the rules of the battle!

"Okay you guys, this battle will be a one on one because Eevee isn't used to battling yet okay? So don't go too hard on the little guy." Alex told them.

The Pokémon all smiled and nodded, agreeing with him. James went a bit far out until he was at a good distance from Alex, and his Pokémon followed him.

"Let's make this a sky battle first! Fletchinder lets go!" James shouted out.

His Fletchinder flew right in front of him, and he looked prepared for the battle! Staravia went ahead and walked her way towards Alex until she was in front of him, then she started to lift herself up into the air slowly. Meanwhile, Melanie and Pancham sat on the sidelines! Even Bagon came out of his Pokéball too, just so he could watch the battle between the two young Trainers as well!

"This'll be a really fun battle to watch!" Pancham thought, excited to see what the outcome of this battle would be!


	9. Ch 9, The Strange Foundation?

**_Ch. 9, The Strange Foundation?_**

 ** _James vs. Alex!_**

 ** _Another Rematch!_**

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

Both of the young Trainers were preparing to have their battle together... And Alex was looking forward to who would win it! Staravia and Fletchinder, two flying types... They were going against each other first!

"Alright, you know the rules! Same old same old!" James exclaimed happily, pumped up for the fight!

Alex simply nodded his head, agreeing to the rules. His Staravia looked at him then she looked back at Fletchinder, feeling confident that she would win this battle.

 ** _Play Song!: (Battle! Brendan / May - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=YhhTWytQR2Y)_**

"Let's get this started then! Staravia start it off with Quick Attack!" Alex commanded.

His Staravia took off to the skies at the speed of light, going up just above them. She turned her body towards her opponent, then she dived back down to Fletchinder. She had her wings closed, so that she could go so much faster from the wind as well! Sure enough, the wind multiplied her speed! And she was just about to hit Fletchinder with the attack.

"No way thats going to hit us! Fletchinder, dodge the attack and use Ember!" James shouted.

Immediately after hearing his voice, Fletchinder flew out of the way just before Staravia hit him, then he flew back a bit while still aiming his head towards her. He shot a huge Ember blast attack at her, and it went at a fairly decent speed.

"Nice dodge! But can you do this?" Alex asked, nodding his head toward Staravia.

She looked at her Trainer really quick before trying to understand what he was holding up his sleeve, she eventually knew what he was thinking though.

"Starr!" Staravia cried out, flying towards the Ember instead of trying to dodge it.

"Pfft... I'm a little confused, you're going to end up getting hurt from that move!" James laughed, not understanding what Staravia was trying to do.

Alex looked at James for a quick second, then back to Staravia.

"Just you wait a sec! Staravia now!" Alex screamed another command.

His Pokémon used the move Wing Attack, and flew right through the Ember with ease. There was a huge explosion from the contact, and a huge cloud of black smoke appeared from it. Staravia took the chance to hide in the smoke cloud, until she heard Alex's voice again.

"Alright nice work! Now _use_ Double Team!" Alex kept on going, feeling adrenaline rush through his veins.

"Via!" Staravia listened to him and she started making tons of clones of herself in a matter of seconds.

When the smoke finally cleared, James and Fletchinder saw nothing but dozens of Staravia everywhere in the sky. They couldn't even tell which one was real, apart from fake!

"Oh you have got to be kidding me! _Which one is real_?" James shouted, frustrated by the fact that there were _tons_ of clones.

"I don't know, but you better act fast! ...Staravia! Use Quick Attack and rapidly attack Fletchinder!" Alex interrupted him, immediately attacking.

Ly enough, all of the clones flew down to Fletchinder at great speed, with their wings glowing bright white. By this point, James had no idea what to do. He just told Fletchinder to dodge the attacks, hoping that he would be able to stand against them.

"Fletch!" Fletchinder yelled furiously, flying around in the air, doing tons of flips, twists, and turns as he dodged the clone's attacks.

As soon as all of the clones disappeared, Fletchinder looked around for Staravia to come out, but all he heard was a yelling from above,

"Staraaaaaavia!" Staravia shouted.

She flew down to him, surprising him from behind, then she immediately tackled him to the ground. As soon as that happened, Alex chuckled to himself silently and gave a smirk at James.

"Use Wing Attack and keep on hitting Fletchinder!" Alex kept on talking.

Without hesitating, Staravia started flapping her wings, hitting Fletchinder rapidly with the attack, nonstop. She just kept on going and going and going, until Fletchinder finally bit onto her wing.

"Sta?" Staravia struggled, she tried to get Fletchinder off of her wing, but it was no use!

"Hehe! Yes! Good job Fletchinder! Use Ember!" James complimented, feeling good about winning this time.

"No way! Staravia hang in there girl! I know you can do it!" Alex shouted, trying to give confidence in his Pokémon.

Fletchinder let go of Staravia really quick, releasing her. Now was her chance to fly out of the way, her opponent fired the projectile soon after. But, Staravia wasn't giving up just yet... With all of her strength, she used Wing Attack one more time, and used one of her wings to blast the projectile back at him.

"W-What!" James screamed in shock. He expected the move to explode at Staravia.

Fletchinder didn't expect the counter move either, so he took the Ember back. The move didn't hurt that much but it was enough to give Staravia another chance at an attack. He was stunned from his own move, and Staravia flew towards him again.

"Do it! Use Tackle and use all of your body weight to slam him back down!" Alex commanded.

"Viaaa!" Staravia cried out, impacting her opponent, she and Fletchinder were both now falling to the ground. Except this time, she made sure that he was on the bottom. When they finally got to the ground, Staravia slammed him.

"Fleeetch!" Fletchinder screamed in pain, unable to recover from the attack.

"Look who's got the upper hand now!" Alex laughed.

By hearing this, James felt frustrated again. This wasn't looking too good for him, neither was it for Fletchinder.

"Grr... You!" James mumbled silently.

He sighed, feeling like he was never going to beat Alex. He wasn't giving up yet, so he immediately yelled out,

"Fletchinder! Use Quick Attack and get out of there!"

Alex laughed again, he nodded his head toward Staravia and she understood him. She quickly pinned him down using Wing Attack again, then she started hitting him rapidly with the attack like before. Pretty soon, Fletchinder got to the point where he stopped moving, and he took a heavy attack to the chest from one of her wings. Pretty soon, he couldn't handle it, so he stopped moving, and fainted quickly, leaving James even more frustrated than he already was. He sighed heavily, then he returned Fletchinder back into his Pokéball. When he went inside, he looked at the Pokéball and whispered,

"You did a good job out there Fletch, I'm still proud of you no matter what, after all... you did _just_ evolve, so I'm still happy for you!"

He put the Pokéball away and then looked over at Wartortle, who started making his way to James.

"You ready bud? Let's try and win this!" James exclaimed, encouraging Wartortle to get out there.

"Wartortle!" Wartortle nodded his head happily and jumped immediately into the battlefield, stretching out before James told him what to do.

"Wartortle huh? This should be fun!" Alex smiled, already pumped up for round 2!

James took a killer look at Alex, then he shouted out,

"Don't think this is it! Your Staravia looks tired enough as it is!"

"Bring _it_ on then! Staravia let's get this round done and over with quickly! Use The Double Team tactic!" Alex commanded, starting off the second battle.

Staravia instantly created her Double Team clones in the blink of an eye, feeling confident about this so far! Her wings started glowing again and then she flew down towards Wartortle, along with her twin clones.

"Wartortle! Don't let them trick you! Go into your shell, spin around, and use Bubble, so you can get rid of those fakes!" James called out.

His Pokémon did what he was instructed to do, and he hid in his shell, bracing for impact. As soon as he took a peek out to see where the clones were, one had already attacked him first, but thanks to his shell he was protected from the attack. The impact also made him spin around while he was in the shell, giving him the golden opportunity. He did what James wanted him to do, and he shot out tons of rapid bubble shots everywhere. The clones kept on attacking and attacking, some even vanished the moment they got hit, all vanishing until there was one Staravia left, which was the real one.

"Hm..." Alex thought carefully, impressed from James' counter move.

James saw the look on Alex's face and immediately understood what he was thinking. He smiled at him again and knew he was doing something right!

"Alright Wartortle! You got this!" James cheered his Pokémon on.

"Staravia, let's go! Fly up in the air and-" Alex started the next move, but he was cutoff by James again saying,

"Oh no you don't! Get back down here Staravia!"

Wartortle came out of his shell and used Bubble beneath himself, causing his body to fly into the air, so that he could catch up to Staravia's flying height level.

"Yes! Now use Bite and drag her back down like they did to Fletchinder!" James kept on going.

Wartortle stopped using Bubble, and now he was suspended in the air. Staravia kept on trying to fly up, but Wartortle had already bit her foot, causing her to stop flapping her wings, which made her fall back down to the floor.

"Yes! It's working!" James thought to himself.

Now Alex was getting worried, he had no idea what to expect next, other than to prepare for the worst and try to overcome around it. Wartortle also made sure that he was on top of Staravia, and that she was stuck from moving anywhere.

"Waaaar!" Wartortle cried out, feeling pumped now.

"Use Tail Whip and lower that defense!" James screamed, looking confident as ever...

"No way you're doing that! Staravia keep on using Wing Attack on Wartortle! Don't let him easily get free hits on you!" Alex shouted back, thinking that this was the best option to get rid of Wartortle.

"Staaravia!" Staravia yelled at her opponent, slamming her wings against his body, while he kept on slamming his tail against hers in return.

Tail Whip did no damage to Staravia, but it did make her more vulnerable to attacks. Wartortle however, he was experiencing real pain from the rapid attacks, he kept on trying to resist them until he finally noticed Staravia slowing down a bit, looking very tired all of a sudden. He took a lot of damage as well, but he still held his ground.

"Wait what!" Alex gasped in shock, having that concerned feeling back again.

"Heheheh! Wartortle finish this off by using Bite and Bubble at the same time!" James decided to finish it off.

Immediately after James finished his sentence, Wartortle shot the projectile at her first, before he started biting her hard again!

"STAAR!" Staravia screamed in agonizing pain, stunned by the attacks.

"Don't let go of her yet!" James yelled.

"Oh no!" Alex thought, confused about what he should do next.

He clenched his fists, feeling bad about Staravia's pain. He knew that it must've hurt a lot for her to go through it. Staravia looked over to her Trainer and saw the blank expression on his face, he didn't know what he could do to get her to get out of the attack. Pretty soon... Staravia struggled to keep on going, breathing heavily, and feeling very tired by now. She tried to squirm her way out of it, but it was no use, Wartortle's Bite on her hurt a lot, and he didn't let go. Staravia got to the point where she tried to use every move that she knew, but that didn't work either. Next thing Wartortle did was throwing her into the air again. She was still in pain however, and she couldn't even use her wings anymore. When she opened her eyes to look down at her opponent, she saw the killer look on his face.

"Tortle!" Wartortle mumbled, not taking a second to look away from her.

"Finish her with your slamming move again!" James commanded, hoping that this would finish her off.

"Tor!" Wartortle nodded, he used Bubble to lift himself back up to her level, and then he used his tail to slam her back down to the ground.

Upon impact, it made Staravia unable to move from the painful attack, and she was still looking up, mercy was shown in her eyes.

"Tor-tle!" Wartortle shouted back, falling back down.

He made sure that he aimed directly at her, and eventually when he came back down, he fell right on top of her, making her break his fall.

"S-Staar! Via!" Staravia screamed yet again, closing her eyes shortly after.

Wartortle got right back up and did a couple of flips back to James, feeling confident again.

"Staravia no!" Alex yelled at her.

He ran towards his Pokémon and scooped her up gently, trying to be careful with her. She opened one of her eyes a tiny bit, just enough for her to see Alex.

"Y-You alright girl?" Alex whispered too her, rubbing her head gently.

"Sta..." Staravia nodded slightly, enjoying the affection.

"Don't worry about losing this one, you won the first round against Fletchinder. I'm proud of you! Take a good long rest alright?" Alex congratulated her.

He returned her back to her Pokéball and then he turned around to look at Braixen. He got back up and then made his way over to the Fox Pokémon.

"Braixen?" Alex mumbled quietly, enough for her to hear him.

Braixen was busy playing with her stick weapon, and she immediately noticed Alex. She put it away quickly and then looked up to him, giving him her fullest attention.

"Alright girl, you got this! I know you're weak to water types, but we'll try using that new weapon of yours!" Alex encouraged her.

"Braixen! Xena!" Braixen happily agreed, she danced her way towards the battlefield, before doing a quick backflip into the air.

When she landed perfectly, she pulled out her stick and it lit on fire, holding it out as if it were a sword.

"Brai!" Braixen shouted, staring down Wartortle.

"You're gonna go with a Fire Type huh?" James asked his friend.

"Well you know how she was when she was just a Fennekin. Let's see what she can do now!" Alex laughed.

"Well I can't wait to see her in battle! Wartortle let's get this done and over with quickly! Bubble!" James interrupted, suddenly beginning the next round.

"Tor!" Wartortle shot many bubbles towards Braixen, and they were traveling pretty quick.

Braixen decided to put her new weapon to good use, so she held it out in front of her, and then started spinning it around like a fan. When the bubbles finally reached the stick, it actually managed to hold up, and it destroyed the attack, cancelling out the move!

"Braiii!l Braixen cheered happily, feeling proud at what she just did.

"No way!" James shouted in disbelief.

"Yes way! Alright girl, let's see what you got! Use Ember!" Alex smiled, looking at his partner.

As soon as she used Ember, her stick's flame actually grew a whole lot bigger than it already was. She held it out like a bat, and was thinking to herself what else she could do with it.

"This looks like it'll be good for future battles!" Alex thought to himself, thinking of new strategies to use against Gym Leaders.

He quickly snapped out of his daydreaming and started focusing on the battle again.

"We'll make sure that this battle will be a quick one! Just like our first one James! No holding back! Go get him girl! Use Scratch!" Alex yelled out.

Braixen put the stick back in her tail, and immediately grew long sharp claws on her fingers, running towards Wartortle. It looked like she was getting much better at walking and running on two legs, which was a good sign!

However, James had a trick up his sleeve. He knew that she was weak to water, and he found her weakness.

"Wartortle! Make sure you grab that stick and take it from her!" James shouted.

Wartortle quickly looked back at James and nodded his head slightly, focusing once again. Once Braixen dived towards Wartortle to scratch him, he had enough time to jump out of the way and once he did that, he quickly turned around and used Tackle on her next. Braixen didn't get the chance to dodge after she missed her diving attack, so she fell down from Wartortle's Tackle.

"Tor Tor!" Wartortle whispered to her, yanking the stick out of her tail right away.

It caught on fire the moment he pulled it out, but he put out the fire by simply blowing out water bubbles from his mouth. Braixen's eyes widened in shock and she was now concerned. She looked back around and saw Wartortle throwing her stick a few feet away from them. She looked over to Alex to see if he had a plan or not. Luckily... He had a plan though, and nodded his head towards her.

"Xen!" Braixen mumbled quietly, nodding back to him, smiling evilly.

"What's she up to now?" James thought.

"Braaaaaai!" Braixen whispered, charging up an Ember attack.

After a while, when she finished charging up her Ember move, she opened her mouth to shoot it... But nothing happened at all!

"Braix!?" Braixen screamed in surprise, not expecting that would happen!

Alex now had a worried look on his face, he had no ideas, other than just to retrieve that stick again!

"Braixen! Get your stick back quick!" Alex shouted.

Braixen didn't need to be told twice, she looked around for her stick, until she finally spotted it again. She started running towards her stick, but she got tackled yet again from behind from Wartortle.

"Aix!" Braixen fell over, feeling Wartortle's body on top of hers now.

Wartortle chuckled to himself, then he started laughing like a maniac shortly after.

"Hah! Look who's finishing this battle off quickly now! Finish her off quick Wartortle!" James commanded, feeling even more confident about winning!

Wartortle didn't hesitate whatsoever, he used Tail Whip on Braixen multiple times, refusing to get off of her. She even tried to use Scratch to get him off, but he held his ground and ignored the attacks.

"Braixxx..." Braixen growled at him, trying to squirm her way out.

As soon as he Tail Whipped her a couple of times, she knew what was going to happen next... She looked away from him sighing in defeat, bracing herself from the Water Type attack.

"War!" Wartortle cried, shooting out tons of bubbles at Braixen.

As soon as the bubbles made contact, Braixen tried her best to resist the attack. It was so painful! Considering it was her number one weakness in battle, now she was at a major disadvantage. It was complete agony! She held the screams in, still feeling the bubbles against her. They just kept on coming and coming and coming, until she got to the point where she struggled very hard to even open her eyes! She finally had enough of this, feeling enraged at Wartortle, she used her leg to kick him off of her and then she finally made a break for her stick. When Braixen was just a few inches away from picking it up, she heard Wartortle firing more bubbles at her. Before they impacted her again, she did a quick flip in the air after picking up the weapon, easily dodging the moves. It was enough to shock everyone who was watching.

"Are you kidding me!? She's still standing after all those heavy hits!" James pounded his foot on the ground, feeling a little angry about his plan not working out.

"Go Braixen! Do it!" Alex shouted for the last time.

Braixen landed gently on her feet, and started running towards Wartortle again, who prepared himself for what was going to come next. He expected her to just run straight at him, so he shot even more bubbles at her.

"Brai Brai!" Braixen giggled, doing a couple of flips and twists and turns in the air, avoiding all of the bubbles that were launched at her.

She dived once again at Wartortle, tackling him off of his feet, he fell backwards and now she was on top of him this time! She kept him down while consistently using Tail Whip back on him. She was returning the pain that he caused her, then once she was all finished, she aimed her stick up into the air and shot a quick large Psybeam straight up!

"Oh no!" James thought in his head, running out of ideas to use.

"Xen!" Braixen laughed once again, shooting a secondary Ember into the Psybeam, making the two moves collide into one!

The duo move came back down in seconds, while Braixen was still holding Wartortle down. Wartortle tried firing a lot of bubbles towards the move, but the Psybeam part of the projectile blocked out the water from touching the fiery part on the other side! Before Braixen got hit by her own attack, she gave Wartortle a quick wink before doing a very adorable stylish victory pose, after doing a backflip to get away from him.

"TORTLEEE!" Wartortle screamed with terror and rage in his voice, feeling mad about what just happened to him.

There was a gigantic explosion shortly after the move collided with Wartortle, followed by a huge large could of black smoke covering the battlefield.

"Wartortle! Nooo!" James called out, running towards his injured Pokémon.

When the smoke finally cleared away, it revealed Wartortle's body. He was unconscious from the attack, and he fainted from it too.

 ** _Alex wins yet again!_**

James sighed heavily in defeat, before whispering,

"Don't worry, we'll train much harder so we can finally beat Alex! Just you wait! We'll all grow stronger!"

He returned Squirtle back into his Pokéball and then got up to walk over to Alex.

"That was a fun battle, congrats on your win! Even though I didn't win, I still had fun Alex! Thanks for the rematch!" James congratulated his friend.

Alex gave him a fist bump really quick before thanking him for the compliment by saying,

"Thanks man! It was fun! Great battle."

They both nodded their heads laughing together as Braixen walked over to her Trainer, Alex petted her on the head, giving her a wink.

"Great work out there girl!" Alex whispered to her, then he gave her a quick hug.

"Braixen!" Braixen blushed and hugged him back happily.

"I've got to hand it to you, you're Braixen is so strong! How can she just take massive hits like that?" James asked, wondering about her.

"You know... I have no idea, her mean Trainer probably toughened her up a bit." Alex mumbled, enough for James to hear.

He spoke so quietly because he didn't want to remind Braixen about her previous owner, she didn't hear him though.

"Hmm... I'm really gonna have to train harder if I'm gonna beat Alex then." James thought.

He quickly ignored the thought when he realized that Melanie was nowhere to be seen around them. He looked over to where she sat before, but she wasn't there...

"Hey Alex?" James whispered.

Alex looked at his friend and responded back by asking,

"Yeahhh...?

"Where did Melanie go?" James pointed out.

Alex turned to look where Melanie was before, then he looked around a bit before saying,

"Now that I think about it, Eevee and her Pokémon aren't there either? And they were just there a minute ago when our battle started!"

 ** _Moments later..._**

In the forest nearby Alex and James... Melanie, along with Bagon, Pancham, and Eevee were exploring the area. It was all Pancham's idea, so he was the one to blame...

"Pancham! Why're we even out here anyway!" Melanie asked him, following where he was going.

As soon as the battle started, Pancham had actually seen some strange girl walking around nearby, he finally spotted her from where they were sitting, so he went to go look for her.

"Why'd you run off like that anyway? And where are we going?" Melanie asked him again.

"Pan-Cha? Cham Pa!" Pancham tried to explain it to her, but she had no idea what he was saying...

"Pancham... I can't speak Pokémon!" Melanie replied back, sighing to herself.

Pancham face palmed himself, before leading them on again... He, along with Bagon, and Eevee were just chatting around looking for whatever Pancham was talking about earlier. Seeing all three of them engaging in a conversation made Melanie wish she would understand Pokémon.

"I bet Alex and James are probably worried about us, especially you Eevee." Melanie told the group.

They stopped for a quick second ahead of her, and then all three of the Pokémon ran back to Melanie, climbing onto her.

"What's wrong?" Melanie suddenly asked them.

They looked a little scared, so Bagon and Eevee rested on her shoulder, and she let Pancham rest in her arms. Next thing she noticed was that the bush next to them was rustling pretty loudly, so she knew why they were scared.

"I-Is there a big Pokémon in there?" Melanie mumbled.

"NO!" A random voice from the bush shouted at her.

She was startled by the voice and she took a couple of steps back, showing fear towards whatever was in there, until something popped out at her!

"AHH!" Melanie screamed, closing her eyes and holding on tight to her Pokémon.

"CHAM!" Pancham shouted at the cresture that popped out.

Eevee and Bagon were hiding behind Melanie's long hair, trying to stay hidden.

"Hah! Got you there that time huh?" The creature then started laughing pretty hard.

As soon as Melanie heard his laughter, she yelled back in anger saying,

"What's wrong with y-... W-Wait! W-What're you?" Melanie asked it.

The creature simply giggled, doing a quick spin in the air, showing itself to her. It had a hint of purple and red skin on its body, mostly the head was red though. It also has two devilish black large horns on the sides, along with golden rings attached to them. Then the small creature had a larger golden ring on its waist, and its eyes were colored emerald green.

"Me? Random Pokémon doing a random thing in a random place! Random human!" The Pokémon started chuckling again silently.

"W-Wait! If you're a Pokémon... D-Did y-you just talk!" Melanie asked, taking another few steps back.

"N-No! Well... Maybe, but don't be afraid!" The Pokémon instantly responded back, panicking a little.

Melanie tried her best to keep calm, she thought she was either dreaming, or she was going crazy.

"No, Hoopa can talk!" The creature read her mind using a Psychic move.

"Great... it can read minds!" Melanie mumbled to herself instead.

Hoopa giggled again, enjoying it's time with the human.

"Hoopa is bored! So Hoopa wanted to explore and then I ran into you!" Hoopa smiled at her, taking a ring from it's horn.

"Well... I'm Melanie, this is Pancham, Bagon, and this other one here is Eevee." Melanie introduced herself.

Pancham and Bagon looked at the mischievous Pokémon, giving it confused looks. While Eevee on the other hand, was still hiding in fear.

"Hoopa likes Eevee!" Hoopa tried to be friendly and flew closer to Eevee.

As soon as Eevee heard that, he took a quick look at the Pokémon, but didn't say anything in return.

"He's shy..." Melanie explained to the legendary, petting Eevee gently.

"Hoopa understands now! Anyways... Hoopa must leave, maybe Hoopa will see Melanie again!" Hoopa started to giggle yet again.

Melanie laughed from Hoopa's response, it was quite a very interesting Pokémon indeed!

"Maybe..." Melanie smiled back at it.

She took a small little pink Poké Puff from her bag, and handed it out to Hoopa.

"Huh?" Hoopa tilted its head, curious about the small colorful object.

"Try one! Or you'll regret it!" Melanie exclaimed happily.

Without hesitating to do so, Hoopa took the Poké Puff from Melanie and took a small nibble on it... It was enough to make its eyes widen in surprise! In a matter of seconds of taking the taste in, Hoopa ate the entire Puff in one bite! It's eyes started to sparkle like stars in the night sky, and it suddenly screamed out,

"HOOPA LOVES SWEET PINK BALL!"

It did a couple of spins and flips in the air, flying around Melanie happily. When it started to slow down, it rested on Melanie's head.

"Aw, you're an adorable Pokémon too! You know that right?" Melanie smiled, she set Pancham down on her shoulder next to Bagon, and gently grabbed Hoopa.

Hoopa startled a bit from being touched, but it let her touch it anyway. She started petting Hoopa on the head as gently as possible, so that she wouldn't scare it too much. Upon this, Hoopa closed its eyes and started grinning, enjoying the affection.

"H-Hoopa never... Never been touched by human before! Thing you fed me... What is it?" Hoopa asked, wondering what it was.

"They're called Poké Puffs! They're really delicious and I'm glad you like them too! and you've never been touched before?" Melanie answered back.

She thought that maybe this Pokémon was always hiding or something from humans.

"Hoopa disagrees! Hoopa loves Poké Puffs!" Hoopa opened its eyes again and looked up at Melanie.

She almost forgot that it could read minds, this kind of frightened her a little, but she shrugged it off a few seconds later.

"What do you mean disagree?" Melanie wondered what the small Pokémon meant.

"Hoopa is not an ordinary Pokémon! Hoopa is a legendary!" Hoopa chuckled to itself.

Melanie started walking with Hoopa in her arms, instantly shocked that it was a legendary.

"Are you really? Or is this another trick?" Melanie thought.

"Yes! No! No Hoopa meant! Wait no... Hoopa says yes!" Hoopa started laughing out loud again.

Melanie sighed before shaking her head, laughing with the Pokémon. It was quite the interesting creature indeed. Hoopa stopped laughing shortly after saying,

"Hoopa doesn't really talk to humans... But you're different? Hoopa enjoyed meeting Melanie!" Hoopa smiled up at her again, before lightly making it's way out of her grip.

She let it go, and she saw him flying away slowly. She was a little disappointed that Hoopa was already leaving.

"Hoopa's leaving already?" Melanie sighed sadly, not wanting to see it go yet.

Hoopa nodded slightly, giving her a sad face as well.

"Hoopa did enjoy time with Melanie! Hoopa will be back sometime! Have to do important stuff." Hoopa told her.

Melanie nodded in agreement, instantly cheering up from what it said to her. She saw Hoopa vanish instantly, then it was completely gone... All she heard moments later was it's adorable little giggling laugh!

"Cute Pokémon." Melanie told herself.

"Pa?" Pancham looked at her in disbelief.

"Oh you... I still think all three of you are cuter." Melanie giggled, as Bagon and Eevee started rubbing their heads against hers.

Pancham took the opportunity to climb up on top of her head and started sitting up there.

"Okay fine, now what did you want to come here for again?" Melanie asked him.

Pancham simply shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and just pointed in a random direction.

"Do you just want to explore?" Melanie asked again, thinking that was what he wanted.

"Cham!" Pancham nodded happily.

Melanie smiled again, then she started walking into the direction he pointed at. There was a forest pathway to walk on, so she just followed that instead of pushing through bushes.

 _ **A couple of minutes later of nonstop walking...**_

Melanie was still traveling on the walkway, feeling a little tired and bored. All she found were tons of berry bushes everywhere, as well as tons of Bug Type Pokémon crawling on the trees.

"Hm... Alright well, I guess we should turn back. Alex and James are probably worried about us." Melanie thought.

She turned back around and started walking back, until she heard a small little presence around her again. She stopped in her tracks, looking around for whoever was around her. She thought it was probably Hoopa again, but she was wrong. One of the bushes by her feet were rustling, then she bent down to see what was hiding in it. That's when a small tiny little purple colored Pokémon moved very slowly towards her, looking up brightly. It was a very small Pokémon, and it looked like a tiny nebula cloud from space!

"Cos!" The Pokémon greeted Melanie happy.

She examined the Pokémon for a bit before picking it up slowly. It was extremely light, and it felt like the most delicate creature that ever existed.

"Oh... My... What're you! You're so adorable!" Melanie laughed, trying to pet the Pokémon.

"Cosmog!" The creature shouted happily.

She heard more rustling coming from nearby, then she turned around to see another girl, about her age. She was the same height, wore a big white hat, along with a white short dress, and even a large white duffel bag. She had emerald green eyes just like Hoopa's, and she had long bright blonde beautiful hair.

"NEBBY!" The girl screamed, running towards Melanie.

"Nebby?" Melanie thought, holding Cosmog close to her.

"I-I'm so s-sorry I-I..." The girl stuttered nervously, afraid to talk to Melanie.

"Who're you?" Melanie questioned the girl, still holding onto the Pokémon.

"I-It's I-um... M-My names Lillie! That's my Pokémon!" Lillie pointed to Cosmog, and the small Pokémon beamed with joy upon seeing her.

 _ **Play Song!: (Lively Lillie! - Pokemon Sun & Pokemon Moon Music Extended: watch?v=2on6K6Alv2c)**_

"O-Oh! Sorry!" Melanie apologized and felt very bad, she handed Lillie Cosmog back, and backed away a bit feeling humiliated.

"D-Don't worry about it... I should've kept a better eye on him!" Lillie calmed her down.

She looked down at Nebby and started petting him again.

"So he's yours then huh?" Melanie mumbled quietly, enough for her to hear her voice.

"Yeah... He's mine..." Lillie answered, not making any eye contact.

"Okay, sorry I resisted giving him away, I just thought that you would steal him or something." Melanie said sorry again.

"Don't worry about it, but you look like the kind of person who's very friendly, and a good Trainer... So I need a little bit of help! Will you follow me?" Lillie kindly asked, noticing all the Pokémon on her.

"Yeah sure! We were getting bored anyway, we could use a little bit of an adventure!" Melanie started chuckling.

She made Lillie smile, and then she stayed close to her.

"Thank you! Let's go." Lillie thanked her, and started leading the way.

They traveled down a different pathway together, and Melanie was wondering what kind of help Lillie wanted. She started to wonder what it could be...

"So... What do you need help with anyway? Is someone hurt? Did someone steal something?" Melanie asked a lot of questions at once, catching Lillie off guard.

"Um... Well, there's these bad people... Who're hurting this one Pokémon I've been studying. I have to work for them in a different region, but I was sent here to study the Pokémon here." Lillie explained her story.

"Bad people? Then why're you still working for them? And can't you stop them from hurting this one Pokémon?" Melanie kept on asking questions, trying to get the whole story.

"I was too afraid to standup to them! They have powerful Pokémon, so I don't stand a chance against them! I managed to get Nebby out, because they trapped him in a cage! They may seem nice, but they're actually a bit evil from my perspective." Lillie continued on.

"A bit evil? Well..." Melanie started, but she was cutoff again by Lillie,

"And another reason why I can't just leave is because my mother is the boss of the Foundation that I'm in... They're called The Aether Foundation, and I'm also from a faraway region named Alola."

Melanie processed the whole story slowly before fully understanding her, but she didn't know wether or not to believe it. She finally stopped walking as soon as she saw Lillie stop. She looked over to where Lillie was staring at, and she saw a huge white building that looked like a strange lab facility. The main entrance to it had two other people guarding the doors, and they looked like scientists.

"Is that them?" Melanie whispered.

"Yeah, that's them... Just play along okay? And keep your Pokémon safe and close to you at all times! Come on Nebby, stay in the bag!" Lillie whispered back.

She gently placed Nebby into her duffel bag and closed the zipper just enough for Nebby to breathe out of.

"Vee...!" Eevee sighed softly, hugging Melanie tighter.

"Gon?" Bagon did the same thing and made sure he was protected.

Melanie gulped a bit and held Pancham a little tighter.

"What did I get myself into!" She thought, feeling a little nervous.

Lillie started walking again towards the building and they came out of the forest. There was a big open area when they left their hiding spot, and the two Aether workers saw them both. What made Melanie uncomfortable was that there were cameras everywhere around the building, so it made her feel unsafe.

"This isn't good! Why did I have to say yes! I wish I was back with Alex!" Melanie started panicking a bit.

Lillie noticed this quickly and spoke to her saying,

"Calm down! Don't worry! Just play it safe with me! I know you're scared... Trust me, I'm scared too!"

When they finally made their way to the guards, one of them gave Lillie a killer look, and it made her feel worse.

"I-" Lillie started to speak, but she was quickly interrupted.

"Why did you bring someone with you? Do you know her!?" The guard yelled at her.

"Yes sir! She's helping me on one of my research projects! We're studying this Eevee here to see if it has any capabilities to evolve into a new Evolution for its species!" Lillie quickly explained back.

The guard examined Melanie for a bit, trying to figure out if Lillie was lying or not.

"Weren't you already sent to look for that missing Pokémon that escaped?" The guard looked back at Lillie.

"Yes, but it got cancelled! I received orders to continue my Eevee research, so that's when I found someone who had an Eevee." Lillie spoke back.

"Ee-bwee!" Eevee cried.

Then he turned back to Melanie, still looking at her and Eevee on her shoulder,

"These other two Pokémon you're holding won't be a problem will they?"

"No sir! I'll keep an eye on them!" Melanie replied back, giving him manners.

She managed to convince him and they moved aside, giving her and Lillie space to enter the building. Lillie looked at Melanie for a quick second before walking into the place. Melanie followed soon after, and once they got in, Melanie started getting nervous again.

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokémon Sun & Moon OST - Aether Paradise 2 Theme Extended: watch?v=GLX7n-WDBOw&t=840s)**_

"Okay good! We're in." Lillie sighed in relief.

"Do they have cameras inside this place?" Melanie quickly asked, getting two Pokéballs out of her bag.

"No don't worry about those, they're only outside. That's how I managed to escape with Nebby easily, but I forgot to bring another Pokémon along with." Lillie answered.

"Good... Return you two, it'll be much safer if you're in your own Pokéball" Melanie whispered to Pancham and Bagon.

She quickly returned them back into their ball, and kept them away. Then, she grabbed Eevee and held him close to her.

"Don't worry Eevee... Everything will be okay, I hope! You'll be back with Alex soon." Melanie whispered to Eevee, who looked terrified.

"Eee... Bui! Bwee." Eevee stuttered, shaking a bit in fear.

Melanie started petting him so that he would calm down, and it actually helped a lot. She then looked up and examined the place a bit. It looked exactly like a five star hotel lobby, except there were tons of elevators and stairways to go onto. There were also tons of Aether workers around the place, minding their own business.

"Okay so, ignore everyone here, they just do their own thing. We'll be in and out of here in no time! Let's take the elevator to the labs downstairs." Lillie exclaimed.

Melanie nodded her head in agreement, following Lillie, trying to stay as close to her as possible. When she finally located the right elevator to go on, she pressed the button that called for one. In no time, the elevator was quick, and the door opened, allowing them to enter. Once they got in, Lillie quickly turned around and pressed the button on the control panel that read,

"Foundation Labs"

The door closed and it left them traveling downwards to the labs below.

"What did I get myself into..." Melanie sighed again, feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"I know the feeling... Just stay calm and this'll be quick! I know how we can get into the back. Normally I'm not allowed to go down here, but they experiment on a lot of Pokémon. Sometimes they cage them up if they misbehave or if they're very rare Pokémon. Like Nebby is, I don't know what's so special about him... But I just felt like he needed me to rescue him out of there. He actually cried during the experiments, and I just sat there watching him through the observatory's windows." Lillie explained.

Melanie listened and immediately felt bad for Lillie. She looked at her and said,

"Well it's a good thing you got him out! No Pokémon deserves to be treated poorly. One of my best friend's Pokémon was abandoned by her previous Trainer... So he probably knows the feeling. If I mess up or anything, just know that I'm not all that powerful. I don't really like to battle with Pokémon, so I'm sorry... If anything, he should've came, not me."

"Don't worry about it, but like I said before... The scientists here all have powerful strong Pokémon, so there's no chance of battling them. We're just here to rescue one Pokémon." Lillie replied.

"One Pokémon? Why not all of them?" Melanie quickly spoke.

"Because there's no way I can rescue all of them! Unless I knew someone or something that could teleport the Pokémon out of here..." Lillie sounded a bit upset about this.

"Your mother owns this Foundation right? Why is she doing this then?" Melanie said.

"Honestly... I don't even know myself, there's something special about Nebby that she needed, so I had to rescue him! I love my mother, but I don't know what she wants with him, so I'm keeping Nebby safe." Lillie exclaimed.

"Oh..." Melanie sighed again.

"Yeah... This one Pokémon that I'm trying to save is special to me too. It's an Alolan Vulpix, it went through the same things that Nebby had to go through. And I felt really bad for the little Pokémon, because she just hatched out of her egg a couple of days ago." Lillie finished explaining her story.

"What kind of stuff did they do to her?" Melanie wondered, feeling very bad for Lillie again.

"They-they... Well, they just... Started feeding her Pokémon food what wasn't even food, it was just a pile of mush. I don't know what they feed the Pokémon here, but they put shock collars on the Pokémon to make sure they follow orders during testing, and they also freeze Pokémon rather than putting them in Pokéballs, it's a very horrible thing to do..." Lillie sighed sadly, a tear escaped from her eye and Melanie noticed this.

Melanie gave her a short hug, trying to comfort her, and Lillie gladly accepted the gesture, returning it back as well.

"Well... Don't worry, I'll find a way eventually to help you break all of these Pokémon free! We'll do it together, I promise! We came here already right? So let's save Vulpix!" Melanie promised, crossing her heart.

"T-Thank you so much!" Lillie blushed and grinned, feeling happy that she finally found help from a true good hearted person.

They stopped hugging each other when they heard a beep coming from the elevator door. Soon, the door opened, and Lillie started leading the way out slowly and carefully.

"We can't just go on from here?" Melanie whispered to her.

"Okay well um... I'm not actually allowed to be in the labs, but that's where Vulpix is located. This is just the hall that leads down to the labs just below us. Once we get to the labs, there will be a lot of scientists and workers down there, so we'll have to either sneak our way through, or play it safe and play along like we did earlier." Lillie explained thoroughly.

Melanie nodded her head, trying to remember all of that information. She decided that it would be better to just simply follow and stay close to Lillie They looked around the big hall outside of the elevator and saw even more hallways on the sides. It was exactly like a maze... And there were tons of other halls, leading into many more.

"Don't tell me how big this place really is!" Melanie started panicking again.

"Sshh! Don't worry, I know my way around this place, Eevee's name starts with an E, so... Hm..." Lillie thought for little bit longer.

After a while later, Lillie finally remembered where to find Vulpix.

"Okay well, in these halls, we actually need a key card to get into the labs for the certain Pokémon. They're labeled alphabetically, as well as their types, so we'll have to find the labs that are labeled with U-Z" Lillie started talking again.

"Where the heck are we going to find a key card in a place like this!" Melanie asked, feeling worried about all of this.

"Well... The workers carry a key card with them, so if we can just find a way to grab one from them, then it should be a piece of cake getting into the labs." Lillie said.

It took her a while to realize what she just said, and it was that very moment when she thought in her head,

"She's right... How _are_ we going to get a key card in the first place!"

Lillie held onto that thought in her mind, as she started walking down one of the halls. They kept on walking together until they were suddenly stopped by an Aether scientist!

"Stop right there!" The scientist shouted.

It was enough to make Melanie and Lillie freeze in their tracks, they turned around to face him, and the scientist then asked?

"What're you doing down here Lillie? Aren't you suppose to help us look for Cosmog? He disappeared from his cage."

Lillie kept her bag close to her, and shook her head, answering back by telling him,

"No, we were sent here to continue our research on this Eevee here instead. We're trying to look for the U-Z labs, do you mind if we can burrow your key card to gain access to it?"

"Fine... Go ahead, research on that Eevee really quick and do what you have to do, I'll leave the key card to you. The lab is all the way down past me, then make a right, it should be there. I better get it back by the time I get back here alright? I have to check in with the Chief." The scientist exclaimed, giving Lillie his key card and walking away quickly.

Lillie blinked for a couple of seconds before realizing how easy that was to get a key card.

"Okay! That was easy! Let's go and get this over with before we get caught sneaking out with the Vulpix." Lillie whispered.

She quickly led the way while Melanie kept up close behind her, both of them played along as they passed by the many lab rooms, as well as other scientists. They were ignored however, so they had an easy job to do. Once Lillie followed the instructions from what the scientist told them, she eventually stopped and found the door that led to the lab they were looking for!

"U-Z Labs! Yes! This is definitely the one!" Lillie mumbled to herself.

Melanie took a big gulp and watched Lillie as she swiped the key card on the door panel next to it. Upon swiping the card, the lab doors opened, revealing another elevator, but only this time, it was much larger than the previous one. They proceeded to carry on and they entered the elevator. The doors closed and they started to descend further down into the building.

"So... Is this the only building the Aether has?" Melanie asked, curious about it.

Lillie shook her head with a sad expression on her face.

"No, they just have a few buildings and houses in Kalos, but their main headquarters is located in Alola. That's where my mother is too. My Brother is here, but he's usually quiet and on his own." Lillie said.

Melanie was surprised from this information, she didn't expect such a large organization to exist in two different regions.

"Yeah, so when we get to the labs. There's going to be a few scientists experimenting on Pokémon, so we'll have to be really quick. But if we get caught, then I'll do the talking alright? We just need to sneak into the back, that's where the cages are located." Lillie explained the plan once again.

Melanie just agreed with it anyway, she knew she didn't have the power to battle, but she was hoping that they would be able to sneak Vulpix out.

 ** _Even more seconds later..._**

 _ **Play Song!: (Aether Paradise Labs / Basement - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=dg4XjamZCx8)**_

Once they got to the labs below, the door opened, and it revealed a very large labyrinth of lab rooms everywhere! Luckily, Lillie knew her way around the place, so she walked on in, showing no fear, and staying calm. There were tons of rooms, that were filled with lots of Aether scientists. This concerned Melanie a little, if they were caught... Then they would be in so much trouble! Both of the girls kept on walking past each room, acting normal. None of the Aether workers payed attention to the duo, but the guards did however... There were a lot of guards surrounding the place, around every corner, holding out a Pokéball as if they were ready to fight at anytime.

"These guys are no joke, they have security and stuff everywhere!" Melanie thought to herself.

She stopped thinking about it once they walked past one room in particular. Melanie took a quick glance into the room, and what she saw made her gasp. Inside the room, showed an innocent looking Pichu, along with a few workers inside. They were shocking it by using a shock collar, and the Pichu looked like it was in pain, tears streaming down its face. It brought a tear to Melanie, and she instantly felt mad.

"Those heartless monsters! You can't treat a Pokémon like that! Using a shock collar? Lillie was right! That Pichu doesn't look dangerous in any way!" Melanie kept on thinking, clenching her fist, showing anger.

Lillie quickly noticed this and patted Melanie's back, trying to calm her down by saying,

"I know... I wish I could do something about all of these poor Pokémon too. It's just not right, and they're all so innocent and sweet creatures. What sickens me the most is the shock collars, not only do they harm the Pokémon who disobey orders, but they're also equipped with a tracking device."

"T-That's just... Horrible." Melanie mumbled quietly, enough for Lillie to hear her words.

She growled, feeling furious as she continued on with Lillie. They kept on passing by each of the rooms, hearing some Pokémon scream, and seeing what they were fed, as well as seeing the Pokémon being tested on. Some were tested by how much damage they could take, others by their weaknesses, and most of the Pokémon looked very unhappy, and most cried. It broke Melanie's heart to see Pokémon like this, who would do such a thing to innocent harmless creatures?

"Hey!" An Aether scientist ran out of a room from behind, and tapped Melanie's shoulder.

She quit thinking about the Pokémon and quickly turned to face the scientist, giving him a killer look.

"What do you want!" Melanie shouted a bit.

"Easy there young girl, you shouldn't yell like that to an Aether worker. I'll let you slide though... I saw your Eevee and I was just wondering if we could do something with it? We've never had an Eevee in this building before... Not since months ago." The scientist replied back, holding out his arms as if he were going to pick up Eevee.

"Sorry but no thank you. I have orders to study the Eevee on my own along with my apprentice." Lillie kindly answered the scientist, making his face turn into an emotionless frown.

"Whatever, your choice Lillie." The scientist spoke back, walking away from the duo.

Lillie sighed in relief, and she continued to carry on..

"Phew, that was a close one." Lillie exclaimed.

"You can say that again, how long until we're there in the back?" Melanie wondered curiously.

"Not too far, it's that door just over there! Behind it will lead to a small staircase, that's were Vulpix is located. It just hatched, so it'll be on the middle floor labeled 'V-W" Lillie answered.

They started walking a bit faster until they reached the door. Lillie wanted to make sure that they were safe, and there were no guards, or scientists around to see them sneaking in the back. Once the coast was clear, she opened the door quickly and let Melanie in first. Soon after, Lillie closed the door and smiled again. She walked around where Melanie was standing, then she made her way down the staircase.

"I still can't believe they shock these poor Pokémon if they misbehave. It's not right at all." Melanie sighed heavily, still angry about it.

Lillie knew exactly what she felt, she too felt like it wasn't right to do. She turned around and patted Melanie's back while saying,

"I know... I wish I could do something about it, hopefully soon. My mother says that she wants to protect all living Pokémon, and that they should be protected by her, but experimenting on them and forcing the Pokémon to get the scientists to research them is terrible. Those shock collars must hurt really bad, but I think my mother is seeing it the wrong way. You shouldn't hurt a Pokémon period, they're living creatures."

Melanie smiled at her comment, she felt a little bit better knowing Lillie was there for her.

"Thanks, and maybe we'll put a stop to them hopefully. For now, let's go save the Vulpix!" Melanie grinned happily again.

Lillie nodded and continued to walk down the stairway. After a couple of steps later, they finally made it lower into the labs. The place sure was big, considering this was only one part of the lab rooms. When they came to the very bottom, there was a solid steel door blocking the entrance off to the room behind it. Luckily Lillie came prepared, she still had the key card on her, so she went up to the door and swiped the card on the door panel. As soon as she did that, the door immediately opened!

"Yes!" Lillie cheered victoriously.

"Nice! We're in!" Melanie celebrated with her.

Both of the girls walked into the room and the sight of it made Melanie gasp in shock! There were tons of locked cages everywhere on shelves! It was like a crate facility! There were tons of sleeping Pokémon in the cages, and every single one of them had a collar on their necks. Melanie looked at Lillie and saw that same sad expression on her face, it didn't look right on her at all.

"I-It's... Okay, they'll be okay." Melanie tried to comfort Lillie.

"I know... I know." Lillie mumbled to herself quietly, trying to hold a tear in.

There were tons of hallways leading further down with even more cages, pretty much every Pokémon from the National Dex was here. It was a real shame that Melanie couldn't help them all escape.

After Lillie cheered herself up quickly, she started explaining the next part of the plan to Melanie,

"Now that were in here... Look for a room that says 'New Hatched Pokémon'. That's where Vulpix is located."

Melanie agreed with her and they both split up, going down opposite halls to locate the room. As Melanie kept on walking down by herself she started holding Eevee a little bit tighter.

"T-T-This... I don't even know what to say anymore, this isn't right! I'll try and keep you safe so that Alex doesn't worry too much about where we went. We can't tell him or James right now okay?" Melanie whispered to Eevee.

"Bui, Eevee." The small Pokémon replied back.

He started hugging Melanie again and was hoping that this would all be over soon.

Twenty Minutes Later...

After a long while of searching each hall, Melanie heard a voice from behind alerting her,

"Hey Melanie! Over here, I think I found the room!"

Melanie turned back around and started walking fast towards Lillie. She kept on looking down at the tile floors so that she wouldn't have to look at the suffering Pokémon in pain. When she turned the corner of the hall she was in, she spotted Lillie waiting patiently for her.

"Okay I'm here!" Melanie shouted from faraway.

She eventually reached Lillie, and she nodded her head, walking into the room she found. Melanie quickly followed after her, and it was a very small room. It only had a few cages in it, but all of them except for one were eggs instead of live Pokémon. Melanie took a closer look at the Pokémon eggs and her heart broke into a million pieces again.

"No... Don't tell me Lillie," Melanie started to speak again.

"Don't say a word about it, and to answer your question, yes... They have trackers too." Lillie cut her off.

Melanie took another quick look at the eggs, they all had a special colored pattern design on them. So they would hatch into many different kinds of Pokémon. It sickened Melanie to see that the eggs too were being tracked.

"They must really want to know where all of these Pokémon are at..." Melanie thought to herself, disgusted by the thought.

Both girls looked around for the right cage, and there was one in particular that was colored icy aqua sky colored blue. Lillie saw Melanie looking at the blue sealed cage, and then made her way over to her quickly.

"This has to be the one!" Lillie shouted loudly.

She opened the door to the cage slowly, and inside... Laid a small cute little sleeping Alolan Vulpix!

"Awwh!" Melanie smiled at the peaceful sleeping creature.

Lillie gently picked up the Vulpix so that she wouldn't wake her up. But... The small Pokémon woke up anyway, opening its beautiful diamond colored blue eyes to both of the girls.

"It's alright Vulpix, don't be afraid! We're here to get you out of this place quickly." Lillie tried to comfort the Vulpix from freaking out too much.

Melanie looked around the neck collar and took a good quick glance at it. She looked behind the collar and there was a small red colored button on it. She hesitated to push the red button, thinking it would shock and hurt Vulpix, but she was wrong about that! Upon pressing the button, the collar immediately fell off of Vulpix's neck, which made the Ice Pokémon sound pretty happy for herself.

"Vull!" Vulpix cried happily, looking very innocent and joyful.

"You're such an adorable little Pokémon! Who could hurt something so cute like you!" Melanie whispered to the Pokémon, petting Vulpix's head gently again.

"Pix!" Vulpix smiled back widely, accepting the affection!

Vulpix rubbed her head back against Melanie's and she befriended her pretty quick.

"I'm so glad we actually found Vulpix, unharmed, and not in danger. We have to keep her safe though from workers. " Lillie whispered to Melanie.

Just as soon as Melanie nodded to let Lillie know her response, both of them heard a random voice shouting at them from the entrance to the room saying,

"HEY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING DOWN HERE! THIS AREA IS RESTRICTED!"

 _ **Play Song!: (Battle! Aether Foundation Employee - Pokemon: Sun & Moon - Music Extended: watch?v=VJeZyzJjM8I)**_

The voice came from an Aether guard, and he saw all of them in the room staring at him. The guard saw a collar on the ground, a Vulpix out of her cage, as well as two young girls who were not allowed to be in this part of the labs. His voice was intimidating, and it made both Melanie and Lillie's heart pound all of a sudden.

"SPEAK!" The guard continued to yell at the two.

"W-We were sent down here to retrieve-" Lillie answered back, but the guard cut her off.

"That's not true, how did you even get down here anyways? And why is there no collar on that Vulpix you're holding?" The guard cut in.

"I- I uh-" Lillie replied back, but she quickly stopped soon after the guard took out a Pokéball.

"No, it's what I thought in the first place. You're trying to steal the Vulpix for yourself Lillie! You're in big trouble now!" The guard exclaimed.

He threw a Pokéball into the air and out came a tall/large Bewear!

"W-What the?" Melanie thought to herself, she pulled out Bagon's Pokéball and was about to call him out to battle, but Lillie already grabbed her arm, stopping her in the process.

"It's not worth it! Just run back to the entrance if you can!" Lillie whispered.

Melanie immediately started making a run for it, grabbing Vulpix from Lillie. She managed to escape the room and she slid right past the guard and his Pokémon. Then, all of a sudden an alarm started to go off! There was a loud beeping sound. As well as a red alert sign throughout the labs halls.

"Oh no!" Melanie thought, still running away down to the hall, she held onto Vulpix tightly.

When she looked straight ahead, there were two more guards blocking the way! With no choice, Melanie made a sharp left and decided to take a different hall. She kept on running and running as if her life depended on it, her heart was pounding furiously, and she was beginning to worry about Lillie.

"This isn't good at all! Why did I even say yes to this! Lillie was right, I've never seen a Pokémon like that before, but Pancham and Bagon can't go against it, neither can Eevee." Melanie regretted the decision, then she looked over on her shoulder to check on Eevee.

"Eevee? You okay?" Melanie asked, more concerned for him than anything else.

"V-V-Vee! Ee!" Eevee shook in fear.

That's when she looked behind her to see if anyone was chasing her, and soon enough, she saw two guards behind her. She groaned and rolled her eyes, deciding to sprint a little faster. She made a few sharp turns, trying to avoid halls that were blocked off, and trying to lose the workers.

"Come on! Where's that elevator at?!" Melanie quickly shouted out loud.

She heard a voice calling from behind and she tried to ignore it,

"Give us that Vulpix back thief!"

"No way!" Melanie yelled back, tightening her grip on Vulpix.

When she made it down the hall she was in, she looked over to the right, and sure enough... There was an open elevator waiting just for her.

"Y-Yes! Bingo!" Melanie smiled upon seeing the elevator.

She used all the energy she had remaining and sprinted the rest of the way, eventually slowing down and entering the elevator. With guards still chasing her, she quickly got in and pressed one of the buttons that read 'Back to Main Entrance!' Melanie felt pretty lucky considering she didn't need to use a key card to operate the elevator this time. The doors finally closed and she took a deep breathe, trying to regain her energy back. What made it worse was that she had no idea what happened to Lillie. She felt kind of bad just abandoning her like that, and running off without helping... But that's what Lillie wanted her to do right?

"*huff* *sigh* I-I'm... I'm out of breathe! How long does this take! I need to get out of here and find Lillie fast!" Melanie mumbled.

A few seconds passed by and there was a ring coming from the operator panel, Melanie quickly looked over and she found out that she finally made it back to the main lobby.

"Yes!" Melanie cheered, she could almost taste freedom.

That's when it all went wrong... As soon as the doors opened... Melanie quickly ran out, but what shocked her, made her immediately stop in her tracks. What she found out, was that the entire main lobby entrance was filled with tons and tons of Aether workers everywhere! Melanie's heart literally stopped, she felt very frightened now, not for herself, but for her Pokémon as well. One of the Aether workers yelled out,

"Stop right where you are and kneel down!"

Melanie did what the guard asked her to do, regretting all of this that she agreed to do.

"I-It's not-" Melanie began to speak, but she quickly stopped when she saw Lillie being brought over to sit across from her.

"Lillie?" Melanie whispered to her, quiet enough for Lillie to hear her words.

She looked up at Melanie and had a sad expression on her face, she didn't have her large duffel bag on her, nor her hat either. She didn't speak any words at all, and she just looked down at the floor afterwards. Soon enough, Melanie heard footsteps coming from her side and then a tall figure appeared next to her. She looked up at the tall figure and it looked like a leader almost, he looked different upon the rest of the workers He had a lab coat on like the scientists wore, along with blondish colored hair, as well as yellow-lime colored glasses.

"So... Look who we have here! Lillie and her 'precious' assistant." The man spoke out.

Lillie looked at him next, but she refused to talk back to the person. Melanie saw him bend down a bit to look down on her, giving her a killer look.

"Why're you here child?" The guy asked.

Melanie had no idea what to do, she didn't know weather or not if she would tell the truth or lie to him. After feeling uncomfortable for a while, she finally spoke out saying,

"I... I'm just here to help out Lillie from you evil people!"

The guy started bursting out in laughter, along with a few others around him. He gave her a quick smirk, and then bent down even closer, until he was just a few feet apart from her face.

"Evil? You got it all wrong, you have no idea who we are... So just leave and hand us the Vulpix, NOW!" The guy shouted.

Melanie held on tightly to Vulpix and refused to listen to the man's words.

"Leave her alone Faba!" Lillie cut-in on the conversation, backing her friend up.

Faba looked over to her and started walking towards her after getting back up, he ignored Melanie and just focused his attention on Lillie only. He turned his head over to look at an Aether worker and asked him,

"Bring her bag over to me, didn't you say you heard something in there?"

The worker who was carrying Lillie's bag nodded her head, and then handed it over to Faba to look at.

"No wait! You can't look in there! That's my personal bag!" Lillie quickly spoke to stop him from opening it, but Faba still ignored her.

"If your mother was here, then she probably would've done the same thing, we're above you Lillie. Just because your the President's daughter doesn't make you like us. After all, You're just a trainee." Faba continued on.

He took the zipper from the top of her bag, and then opened the whole thing wide open. Inside, surprised him instantly. He saw Cosmog just sitting there looking up at him with fear shown all over his face.

"Oh!" Faba gasped in surprise.

"No wait!" Lillie screamed.

"What is this here? So it was YOU that stole the missing Pokemon!" Faba shouted at her angrily.

"Don't you lay a single finger on him! Or I'll-" Lillie yelled back, but Faba quickly interrupted her by replying,

"You'll what? Oh that's right... Nothing! Your Mother isn't here now is she? And here I find you, bringing a fake assistant with you. You stole the Pokemon the President was looking for this whole time! And on top of that, you tried to steal the Vulpix too right?"

"That Vulpix JUST hatched from her egg! She doesn't deserve to have those shock collars around her neck!" Lillie said.

Melanie grew even more angry at Faba, still holding onto Vulpix. Faba looked over to Melanie and noticed Eevee sitting on her shoulder, refusing to look at him. He gave Lillie another quick smirk before heading over to Melanie.

"That Eevee sure looks like a fine test subject, we haven't had an Eevee in such a long time! If you want to be set free, release Vulpix _and_ Eevee! I bet you must've stolen that from another _childish Trainer_ like you!" Faba exclaimed.

"No way! Don't even think about touching these two! Neither the rest of the Pokémon here either! You people ARE evil! Treating them poorly, feeding them food that isn't even meant for them! And worst of all, putting shock collars on them so that you can force them to behave? That's not how Pokémon should be treated! They're _living_ creatures!" Melanie claimed her argument, thinking it would get through to Faba's crazy mind.

"Hah! Evil? Evil? You think we're bad? Our goal is to protect every living Pokémon that exists, that's what the President wants, and I'll give it to her. It was MY idea to put those collars on them because some of them wouldn't listen to us. They deserve our President's love." Faba explained.

He bent down to her and tried to take the Vulpix away, but Melanie kept on holding on to her. So, he quickly snatched Eevee away from her shoulder and that made her panic all of a sudden. Eevee suddenly opened his eyes and stared down Faba pretty hard, looking terrified of him.

"V-Eev!" Eevee stuttered in fear.

"Guards, take that Vulpix _away_ from her, this Eevee is coming with me. Oh, and one more thing! Don't forget about the President's _special Pokémon_ either." Faba ordered, walking away with Eevee very slowly while staring at Nebby.

The employee workers started surrounding Lillie and Cosmog, making Melanie's heart pound even harder.

"No! You can't take him away!" Melanie screamed at the top of her lungs.

She quickly got up and ran towards Faba, when she had the chance to do so, she grabbed Eevee back from his hands, and she held onto him tightly, along with Vulpix too. Now Faba had a very angered expression on his face, turning back to Melanie, he started taking a few steps closer to her.

"Get away from me!" Menalie continued to shout at him, backing away quickly.

Faba started to surround them, along with his fellow Aether employee workers. That's when Melanie heard a quiet whispering voice coming from behind her,

"Melanniee!" The voice spoke out to her.

"W-Who's that?" Melanie replied back, not looking behind her.

The voice was oddly familiar, and she saw a floating small golden ring next to her face all of a sudden. Upon seeing the ring, she backed away from it and eventually bumped into an Aether guard standing right behind her.

"Hm?" Faba wondered, he noticed the ring too and took a nice long look at it.

He had no idea what the golden ring was, or where it came from even... Not even Melanie or Lillie.

"Grab the ring already before it's too late!" The voice whispered again, trying to rush Melanie into touching it.

Melanie had no other choice than to trust the voice, she took a look around and saw many guards surrounding her. She still held onto Vulpix and Eevee tightly, so that they wouldn't get taken away.

"Here goes nothing... I-I'm... I'm sorry Lillie!" Melanie yelled out loud, staring directly at Lillie and ignoring everyone else.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine! I'm my mother's daughter, they can't do anything to me!" Lillie exclaimed.

"Yes we can! And Where do you think you're going little girl? You can't escape us! You're going to hand over Vulpix and that Eevee IMMEDIATELY!" Faba shouted, running towards Melanie.

He pushed the guards out of the way until Melanie was in sight, he started sprinting faster towards her aiming to grab Vulpix and Eevee away from her, but just before he could try and steal them back, Melanie trusted the voice that came from behind, and she touched the ring. When she touched it, she felt a glowing light surround her whole body, and the ring expanded into an even larger version. She closed her eyes, not knowing what to expect next... All of a sudden, she felt herself being lifted into the ring, and she felt a lot of wind being thrown at her as she traveled through it. When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but darkness, then for a quick second, a bright light instantly flashed her vision again.

"W-What's going on!" Melanie started panicking, afraid of the flashing lights appearing everywhere.

She blinked really quickly, until her vision started returning back to normal. When it finally did, she found herself in a small little opening in a forest outside. She quickly got back up instantly and looked around real quick, confused about everything.

"W-Was this a dream?" Melanie mumbled.

She looked down and was still carrying Vulpix, so it was definitely real! Melanie turned around and heard a small voice giggling. The voice eventually got closer and closer to her, until a small Pokémon revealed itself to her. The small Pokémon was Hoopa again!

"Hoopa got you!" Hoopa continued giggling crazily.

Melanie felt a big wave of relief rushing through her, she took a few seconds to walk around and see where she was at, and what she saw scared her half to death! She saw the Aether Foundation's building right over the tons of bushes that were in the way, along with guards starting to come on out.

"Oh no! They're probably searching for me!" Melanie exclaimed.

"Huh?" Hoopa asked, flying a little above so that it could get a better look around.

"Who? Who are those people?" Hoopa wondered, looking back to Melanie for answers.

"T-They're... Really bad people! They're looking for me! Hoopa, can you take me to somewhere else?" Melanie kindly asked quickly, afraid that she would be spotted outside.

"Okay!" Hoopa nodded, it threw another ring around her and quickly got them out of that location fast.

Then... All of a sudden, they were in a huge opening, revealing a large field of grass. Melanie instantly recognized the place, she looked around, then spotted Alex and James, along with their Pokémon searching the area for her.

"Y-Yes! They're still here!" Melanie cheered happily, finally relieved of what she's been through already today.

She turned back to Hoopa and gave it a quick little hug, after setting Vulpix down. Hoopa gladly accepted the affection, smiling back at her.

"Thank you for getting me out of there! But how'd you know where I was? Didn't you leave earlier?" Melanie questioned the small legendary.

"Hoopa did, but Hoopa wanted to find out where Melanie was going!" Hoopa answered back, laughing soon after saying it's sentence.

"Well thank you so much! I don't think I would've survived in there!" Melanie still thanked him anyway, and she had a large smile on her face.

She quickly remembered how she forgot Lillie back in the building, and her smile faded away into a sad frown instead...

"Lillie..." Melanie mumbled quietly, looking down at Vulpix.

"Vuu?" Vulpix looked up at Melanie with those innocent eyes again.

"I'll take care of you, for... For Lillie, I wish I could've done something to get her out of there too along with Nebby, I just... Hope she'll be okay back there." Melanie started petting the ice fox Pokémon's head gently.

"Hoopa sorry for that... Hoopa went invisible and watched from outside. Hoopa knew you were in trouble." Hoopa apologized.

"It's fine, you _did_ save my life there though. I would've been in huge trouble if I didn't grab that ring! Once again thank you Hoopa!" Melanie calmed it down, and made sure that it didn't have to feel sorry for her.

She rubbed Hoopa's head again and it smiled back at her, it leaned closer towards her and sat on her head happily!

"Hoopa likes Melanie!" Hoopa laughed again, making Melanie smile again.

Melanie grabbed Eevee off from her shoulders and lifted him into the air shortly after, grinning at him.

"I'm really glad you're safe too! If I haven't had gotten up and take you back from that guy, then you would've had to stay there for the rest of your life probably!" She whispered softly.

"Ee-bwee bui!" Eevee started wagging his tail rapidly, licking Melanie on her face to show his affection towards her like a Rockruff would.

She looked down at Vulpix again and put Eevee down, she took her bag off and started looking for something inside of it. When she finally found what she was looking for, she pulled out a Pokéball and showed it to Vulpix.

"Vulpix? Do you wanna come with me? We'll have a lot of fun being together, and mark my words. We'll see Lillie again, don't worry about it!" Melanie asked the fox, meaning every word that she said to her.

"Vulll-Piix!" Vulpix cheered, smiling very wide at Melanie.

She took a few steps closer to the Pokéball, blushing lightly before she put her paw on the button in the middle. The capturing device sucked Vulpix into the ball, and it started to shake a few times. After a while of shaking, the ball instantly stopped and there was a glowing red light on the button, signifying that Vulpix was officially her Pokémon!

"Yes!" Melanie celebrated, looking at the ball proudly.

She put the ball back into her bag and then picked up Eevee again, before turning back to Hoopa.

"Does Melanie have to go?" Hoopa asked sadly, giving her a sad look.

Melanie nodded her head sadly before petting Hoopa again lightly. She made Hoopa giggle again and that made her day a whole lot better seeing it happy again.

"Yes, Melanie has to leave now okay? I'm sure we'll see each other again though, if you're still around in the region!" Melanie replied back, still happy about everything.

"Okay!" Hoopa spoke once again, giving her a thumbs up with it's hand.

Melanie started walking away from Hoopa and headed her way back to her friends, she turned around while walking back and waved towards the legendary. Hoopa waved back and once they were apart, Melanie saw Hoopa flying away quickly to who knows where... She sighed and then spotted James and Alex noticing her walking over to them. She didn't know weather or not to tell them what actually happened, but she would have to tell them eventually...

"Those people are probably going to be searching for me... I just hope they don't ever find us. I'm sure we'll be okay though, I'll be back to rescue you from those horrible people Lillie... I promise!" Melanie made a promise to her, and she was going to keep it.

She continued to smile at Alex and James, and she saw them smiling back at her. They were probably really worried about her, and where she went along with Eevee. A lot has happened today, and Melanie couldn't wait to get back on her journey with Alex again!


	10. Ch 10, The Sweetest Things in Life!

_**Ch. 10, The Sweetest Things in Life!**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

After recalling from the events that have happened to Melanie in the beginning of the day, she has finally got out of the Aether's labs. Happy to be back with her friends back at the campsite they were at last night. She was carrying Eevee in her arms, as she made her way over to Alex and James.

"Alex! James!" Melanie shouted from across the distance.

She ran towards the two boys and when she eventually made it to them, she smiled brightly at both of them.

"Where've you've been? We were worried sick about you!" James asked, giving her a worried expression on his face.

Melanie remembered about her promise to Lillie, and she decided to keep it well hidden from them both. She looked over to Alex and he had a concerned look too.

"Is Eevee alright? And are you alright?" Alex asked, just to be sure.

"Y-Yeah! Yeah! Eevee and I just went to go pick some berries nearby, nothing really too big!" Melanie laughed, hoping that she would convince them into believing her.

"Oh! Well okay. You should've told us though. I was worried because I thought someone kidnapped you or something because Eevee was gone too." Alex believed her, convinced by Melanie's lie.

"Eevee!" Eevee jumped out of Melanie's arms and he tackled Alex.

He started licking Alex's face and he hugged him very tight. Glad to be back with his Trainer again. The other Pokémon who were still searching, eventually came back, and they were relieved to see Melanie too.

"Don't worry about me then! Eevee is perfectly fine, but I also found a cutie out there alone." Melanie smiled, taking out a Pokéball.

"Ooo? A cutie huh? A New Pokémon? Did you catch another one?" James asked, excited to see what she caught.

"Mhm! Come on out Vul-" Melanie shouted out, getting carried away.

She was about to throw the Pokéball into the air, but she suddenly remembered about the Aether Foundation. They were still looking for her, and if they spotted that Vulpix, then she would be in big trouble again!

"I um..." Melanie stuttered, slowly putting the Pokéball back into her bag.

She was suddenly stopped by James' disappointed face. He wanted to know what she caught really bad.

"Why can't you show it to us? You said Vul right?" James asked again, wondering what she was going to say.

Alex payed close attention to Melanie's actions and saw her shaking a bit, looking a little afraid.

"Melanie? Are you al-" Alex stared to talk to her, but Melanie suddenly shouted,

"RUN! Follow me quickly!"

She started running the other way and she was pretty sure she saw an Aether Employee far away in sight. Soon enough, she was right when she turned back around to get a quick look. The employee was faraway from them, and she wanted to leave the area. Alex and James were both suddenly confused about what Melanie was running from, but they saw the employee as well from across the plains.

"Return you guys!" Alex shouted, along with James.

Both of the boys returned their Pokémon back to them, and they quickly put them back into their bags. They ran up to her, catching up eventually, still wondering why she wanted them to follow her.

"Melanie? Why're we running again?" James asked, almost out of breathe already.

"I'll tell later! Let's just hide in that bush over there!" Melanie pointed, quickly speaking and looking terrified.

When they reached the large bush, Melanie climbed in and started to hide, along with Alex and James following soon after. They were all out of breathe, while Alex took a quick peek out of the bushes to see where that strange person went. He saw the Aether worker again and he ducked down really quick, still confused about what was going on with his friend.

"Alright, well... I think we're safe now. *sigh*" Melanie started calming down, glad to be hidden.

"Um... Can you explain to me what that was all about!" James whispered quietly.

"It's a loooong story... Unless you guys want to hear it?" Melanie asked both of them, trusting them with her secret.

"Yeah, we'll keep it hidden and play it safe with you if you're in trouble. You can count on us!" Alex promised her, smiling at her happily.

She smiled at Alex and blushed lightly in front of him. She pushed the hair on her face on the side over her ear, then she straightened herself up before getting a little comfortable.

"Well... U-Um..." Melanie continued to blush, for some reason she found Alex cute when he smiled like that.

She calmed herself down again so that she wouldn't embarrass herself, then she finally told the story, explaining everything that's happened to her since the moment she left their battle.

"It all started when I left to go explore the forest. Pancham must've seen someone, so he wanted to go take a look, but I had a worried feeling about it... Eevee wanted to come with us too, so we went into the forest nearby and explored there for a bit looking for that person we saw." Melanie explained.

Alex and James listened to the story very carefully, getting a little less confused then they already were.

"We eventually found this girl that I met. She was a bit strange at first, but she's actually a really nice person. Her name is Lillie, and she asked me if I could help her with a little problem she was going through." Melanie continued on.

"What was the problem?" James suddenly questioned her.

"Dude, let her speak." Alex told him, trying to make him be patient.

"Okay fine! Continue on Melanie." James replied back, motioning Melanie with his hands to continue.

"She wanted me to help her rescue a small Pokémon that was being treated poorly by these terrible people. They're called the Aether Foubdation, and they aren't what they seem to be. Lillie brought me with her into one of their lab buildings, and we went inside to rescue the Pokémon... We eventually did after we went further down into the building, but we were caught by one of the guards." Melanie spoke.

She had a blank expression on her face now, and then it turned into a small frown. She looked a little upset about it.

"You don't have to carry on if you don't want to." Alex mumbled.

He sat a little bit closer to her, trying to make her feel better about assumed that the rest of her story was pretty bad, but Melanie still wanted to carry on with it,

"No it's fine... It's better you two know the truth, we met one of their workers who looked almost like a leader. He kind of held us hostage almost, we were surrounded by dozens of them. There was no way of escaping... Soon after that, the leader tried to take Eevee away so that they could research on him. And trust me, what I saw... Sickened me to my stomach. They fed Pokémon mushy disgusting gray colored food, and they had shock collars around their necks."

Alex and James started feeling bad for what she had to go through. Alex looked down at his Eevee that he was holding, and he started petting him carefully.

"They really did that to you? Wow..." Alex sighed heavily.

"Yep, but I escaped... They're looking for me because I have their Vulpix. So I'm a little worried about what they'll do if they see her with me!" Melanie finished the story.

Now, the two boys fully understood Melanie and they took quick glances at each other before Alex said,

"Well, like I said... Don't worry about it! We got powerful Pokémon already, so we should be able to hold out against one or two guards right? For now, let's get back to our journey okay? We're all in this together!"

"Yeah! Through to the end!" James smiled in agreement.

"T-Thank you guys! I just... I wish I could've went back to save her though. She, along with her Pokémon are still back at one of their lab buildings." Melanie sighed sadly.

"We'll have to come back then, but I'm sure she'll be okay... Hey! Let's see that Vulpix, maybe seeing her will cheer you up!" Alex swore.

Melanie started grinning again and took out Vulpix's Pokéball. Upon taking it out, she opened the device and a bright blue whitish light appeared from it, eventually forming into an Alolan Vulpix!

"Vulll!" Vulpix yawned cutely, opening her eyes slowly.

"Awwh!" Melanie couldn't help but squeal at the sight of Vulpix.

"Woah! You weren't kidding! You really did save that Vulpix after all!" James started laughing.

Alex lightly elbowed him in the chest causing him to lose his breathe for a quick second!

"*Oof!* H-Hey! What was that for?" James asked angrily, crossing his arms.

"You thought her story was a joke? I believed it!" Alex replied.

"Well yeah! I thought she was kidding about it or if she was trying to scare us at first!" James mumbled.

"Well it's real!" Melanie shouted at him pretty loud.

She quickly realized her mistake and she prayed to Arceus, hoping she wasn't too loud.

"Pi-? Pixxx! Vull?" Vulpix giggled, walking up to Alex.

She lightly nuzzled his arm, trying to urge him into petting her. By then, Alex couldn't help but resist her command. He started petting the top of her head, and he instantly felt a little bit of a chilly wind coming from her fur.

"Woah, my hand feels a little cold!" Alex chuckled in surprise.

"Piiiiiiix!" Vulpix purred just like a Litten.

"Awwh! She likes you!" Melanie whispered in joy, petting Vulpix as well.

"Yeah... I don't know how someone could hurt this little one, and I think Vulpix are rare Pokémon too!" Alex smiled happily.

His Eevee jumped from his arms, and landed perfectly next to Vulpix. Wagging his tail, Eevee greeted Vulpix again,

"Vee Bwee!"

"Vul!" Vulpix greeted back, tackling Eevee playfully.

They started wrestling and played with each other, having a lot of fun already!

"Awwh! They're so cute together!" Melanie couldn't control herself anymore.

The two small Pokémon simply blushed lightly, staring at her for a couple of seconds.

"They are cu-" Alex started to speak, but he was lightly tapped on the shoulder from one of his Pokémon.

It was Braixen, and she was giving Alex a killer look. He quickly turned around and tried to figure out what she wanted. That's when she opened his bag, and started going through it carefully. When she finally found what she wanted, she took out a brush and lended it out towards her Trainer.

"Brai Brai!" Braixen giggled, showing her tail in the process.

Her large tail was a bit dirty from the battle earlier, and Alex immediately knew what she wanted now...

"Girl, can we wait just a-" Alex spoke out again, but she put her hand on his lips, stopping him immediately.

"Brrrraaiix... En!" Braixen growled at him, reaching to pull out the stick in her tail.

Alex started getting a little frustrated with her, so an idea popped out of his head.

"Braixen, you of all Pokémon should know I don't like to be rushed... Maybe I should throw that brush out or get Staravia to hide it faraway from here." Alex played along, raising his eyebrow at her.

That was enough to make Braixen's face turn into a depressed one instead. Now it was her turn to make him feel bad.

"B-Bra!" Braixen started to stutter, feeling tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh no... " Alex thought.

Now he made her cry, and it was all his fault!

"Braiix! Xeen! Braaiii!" Braixen started crying all of sudden out of nowhere.

Alex didn't buy it though, he thought that she was just trying to fake it. Boy was he proved wrong though when he went to have a quick look at her face. There were a lot of tears in her eyes now, streaming their way down... It made Alex regret what he said, then he started to sit closer to her.

"U-Uh wait! I didn't mean it like that girl!" Alex started to talk to her again, trying to comfort her by patting her on the back.

That didn't help at all, it actually made it a whole lot worse... She started to sob, and the tears fell down onto the grass.

"Good going..." James whispered to Alex.

"I-Be quiet! I'll fix it!" Alex whispered back.

"Br-Bra-Xe!" Braixen sobbed, refusing to look at Alex.

"Okay! Okay! How about this! I'll feed you a special treat tonight! A-And I'll brush your tail for a whole hour too!" Alex offered.

"BRAIXEN!" Braixen screamed all of a sudden, wrapping her arms around Alex's neck.

She felt happy again and she hugged Alex. Making him feel stupid for falling for her trick.

"Gah, you..." Alex mumbled.

He sighed really quick before returning the hug, looking back at James and Melanie. They just shrugged their shoulders, confused about what they should say to him next...

"So erm! We should probably check and see really quick before heading onto the next town." Alex suggested.

Melanie decided to take a quick peek over the bush, and she started looking around their location. Not seeing anyone or hearing anything nearby, the coast was clear!

"Looks good to me, what's the next town anyways?" Melanie asked, with a light blush on her face when she returned to look at Alex.

"Um... Lets see." Alex replied back.

He stopped hugging his partner, and she went ahead and started digging around his bag for the map.

"Braixen!" Braixen cheered, pulling out the regional map.

She handed it to Alex and smiled widely at him, sitting down cross-legged next to him.

"Thank you girl." Alex thanked her, grinning back and rubbing her chin.

He opened up the map and took a look at where they were at, searching for a bit...

"Well, I guess my third Gym Badge won't be for a while, but I guess we can check out... Hm, let's see..." Alex spoke once again.

"Were on Route 10 right now, so there should be some town around here right?" James reminded his friend.

"Yeah I know... Ahah! Found one! Says here that if we keep on following back on that trail we were following Melanie, there's two paths that lead to three different towns! Calanthe Town, Brackish Town, and Geosenge Town. Says here that Calanthe Town is just a Town known for taking care of humans at some huge hospital building. Brackish Town is known for its famous chocolate cakes!" Alex suddenly stopped explaining his words.

He looked at Braixen and saw her tail starting to wag. She gave him puppy Rockruff eyes, trying to tell him something. He instantly knew what she was thinking, so he suddenly announced,

"Alright guys! Next stop Brackish Town!"

Alex and Melanie took out their Pokémon's Pokéballs and that suddenly caused Eevee and Vulpix to change moods pretty quickly.

"Eev?" Eevee stopped playing with Vulpix and had a disappointed look on his face now.

"Vull?" Vulpix tilted her head, looking as if she were about to cry.

"You guys have to stay in your Pokéballs, I know you wanna play with each other... But it's just too dangerous if we have those Aether people looking for you both..." Alex explained to the two small Pokémon.

James quickly noticed the two Pokémon looking upset, so he wanted to back them up.

"Hey, how about this? If those Aether people are looking for them, then I'm pretty sure we'll be able to handle them easily. Plus, Eevee is YOUR Pokémon, not theirs... So they don't have the right to take him away from you. The only one we have to worry about is Vulpix." James reminded the two.

"You're right, they don't want to go into their Pokéballs though, so I guess they can stay out here with us." Alex answered back.

He scooped up Eevee, along with Melanie doing the same to Vulpix. They carried both of them in their arms and they finally stood back up. It was best for them to just go through the bushes, rather than staying out in the open to avoid the Aether.

"Alright, everyone ready? Got your stuff?" Alex asked, just to be safe about this.

"Mhm." Melanie nodded.

James did the same thing and he started leading the way out of the bushes they were hiding in. Much to Braixen's comfort... She wasn't looking forward to getting leaves and small sticks getting caught in her tail. She sighed, soon after following Alex and his friends back onto the main Route road.

A couple of minutes of pushing through large bushes later...

"Ugh! This is annoying, how long until we actually get back onto the main road!" Melanie started complaining.

"Oh relax! We're almost there! I think..." Alex laughed silently.

"You think? I'm starting to get tired just making my way past this!" Melanie continued on.

"Well, on the map it looked like Brackish Town was close to us, so we should be there soon... I hope!" Alex replied back, trying to calm her down.

"Okay good, as long as we don't run into any Aether Foundation, I'll be fine... If only Hoopa was here, then it could transport us instantly." Melanie mumbled to herself on that last part.

"What was that you were saying?" James examined her mumbled voice.

"N-Nothing! Ignore that, I'll tell you at another time." Melanie confessed almost instantly.

"So you're keeping another secret from us? How much did you go through today?" Alex started to laugh even more out loud.

Loud enough to scare other Pokémon around them away.

"You have no idea! Anyways... What kind of Pokémon can we find along this Route?" Melanie wondered curiously.

Alex took the chance to check his map again on the route, he red more information on it and he sounded pretty surprised about the info.

"Looks like Pichu, Eevee, Caterpie, Fletchling, gee... All kinds of Pokémon here." Alex read out loud.

"Woah, you can find a Pichu and an Eevee on this route?" James asked with a hoping voice.

"I remember Grant telling me that Eevee were rare along here, so the chances of you finding an Eevee are very slim. Probably the same thing goes for Pichu. Isn't that right buddy?" Alex answered him, ruining his hope for finding one...

"Vee-Eee!" Eevee nodded his head furiously.

He stopped nodding when he heard Vulpix's voice calling him. He looked over and saw the cute small smile on her face, it suddenly made him blush out of nowhere, but he quickly looked away before she could see it in his face. Ever since James had seen Vulpix for the first time, he was very curious to read about its stats in the Pokédex.

"Alex do you mind if you can scan Vulpix for a quick minute? I want to see info on her! If she's a really rare Pokémon, there HAS to be something cool about her for sure!" James asked, eager to hear the data.

Alex nodded his head for just a second, before taking out his Pokédex. With the tool, he pointed it towards Vulpix and scanned her.

"No data found." The Pokédex replied.

That was enough to shock Alex when he heard the voice play over. He tried scanning Vulpix again, and it still said the same message.

"Huh?" Alex was still confused on the thing.

"Why isn't it working?" James asked his friend.

Melanie looked at them for a brief moment before replying,

"You guys do know it's an Alolan Vulpix right? I don't know much about what that means... But she's from a different region. So I don't think a Kalos Pokédex will work on her."

"Aw... Well that sucks!" Alex sighed in defeat.

"Well, it's a girl, and it's an Ice Type too. I've never knew Ice Type Vulpix existed." Melanie started to laugh shortly after that.

They eventually finished going through the bushes and finally made it out. The group of Trainers found a large pathway that led to somewhere else.

"Great, now which way is the city?" James wondered.

"Brai!" Braixen joined in, annoying her Trainer.

"Um..." Alex started, taking out his map again in the process.

He took a quick look at it, and then pointed his finger towards their right, indicating which direction they were suppose to travel next.

"We're actually really close, I can see the city just down the road... So not much left to go!" Alex finally finished, petting his Braixen.

"Awesome! I wanna try their 'famous' chocolate cake, don't you Braixen?" James asked the fox.

"Braixen! Braixen nodded furiously, nudging at her Trainer's arm to hurry up their walking speed.

"Braixen, you'll get your chocolate cake. Just be patient please." Alex chuckled.

"Xen!" Braixen crossed her arms and turned away from her Trainer.

She gave him an attitude and looked a little annoyed by him. This made Alex sigh yet again,

"I'll tell you what... I'll give you a big slice of the best chocolate cake we can find in that city. Deal? Then I'll brush your tail afterwards." Alex offered.

Saying that instantly made Braixen happy again, she hugged her Trainer really quick before saying,

"Braix!"

"Awwh, that is so cute!" Melanie looked at the two, bonding together.

She made Braixen blush a bit in front of Alex, but she didn't care about that. She just continued to hug Alex, refusing to let go of him. Soon after that, Alex eventually let go of Braixen, and she did the same, still smiling at her close Trainer. Seeing this made Melanie frown a little bit, she began to think heavily on one topic that's been bothering her for a while now...

"They have a dream, becoming champion of Kalos... James, I'm not so sure about him, but... What about me?" She started thinking more about it.

She looked down at her Vulpix and saw a very adorable happy look on her face. Then she turned her head back to Alex's, blushing a bit.

"He sure is an amazing Trainer though... Maybe I should start searching for a dream to chase after too, just like him!" Melanie continued on.

The blush on her face started to darken a little, she didn't know she was blushing, but she felt her heart starting to pound just walking next to him. There was something about Alex that she liked for some reason, she admired him, and she's been with him pretty much from the start of his journey so far. She thought about it a little more until a sudden image popped up in her mind. It was a picture of Lillie, and how they were both surrounded by Aether.

"I'll be back for you..." Melanie mumbled to herself.

She held Vulpix a little tighter, before trying to move onto a different topic to think about. Then she remembered Hoopa again, the way the legendary smiled at her.

"Hoopa! I wish I could see you again. It hasn't even been an hour yet, you seem like a very nice and friendly Pokémon to be around with. Hope I get to see you again sometime soon!"

She started to think about Hoopa next.

"Alright we're here! The town is just up ahead! Let's go!" Alex shouted all of a sudden, interrupting her thoughts.

He started running towards the large town up ahead, followed by his Braixen immediately.

"I hate it when he does that!" James complained, not in the mood to run at the moment.

"Oh relax, you know how he is! He's energetic about being in new towns." Melanie played along with him, laughing to herself.

"Is that why you like him?" James suddenly asked, giving her a smirk.

Him saying that, made another tomato colored blush appear on her face again, causing her to suddenly feel embarrassed.

"N-No!" She shouted back as quick as possible.

"Suuuure you don't... I see you blush all the time around him, admit it!" James tried to get her to confess.

"J-James! No, that's not true and you have no evidence of that." Melanie looked away from him, giving him a small attitude.

James examined her actions for a little bit before thinking,

"She likes him! I know she does, just gotta give it time and I'll find out eventually!"

He started to chuckle silently, until he was interrupted by Alex ahead.

"You guys are slow! Hurry up!" Alex yelled at the two.

"Fine! We're coming!" James exclaimed back, shouting at him.

He started running towards Alex, while Melanie still stayed behind. She didn't feel like running yet...

 ** _A couple minutes later, passing by..._**

"We're finally here!" Alex announced, stopping for a few to catch his breathe from the running.

"Ughh... Finally! I could use a break right now..." James thought, hoping that they would stop somewhere to rest.

"Let's go explore this town huh?" Alex asked his two traveling companions.

"Yeah sure!" Melanie smiled at his response, walking up next to him.

"Oh Arceus... Help me!" James sighed in defeat, he jinxed himself big time!

After they finally entered the small town, there were only a few buildings. Roughly six or seven with large spaces around them. One in general looked like a large hotel to stay at, while several other buildings were either restaurants or shops. There were a couple of people along with their own Pokémon casually walking around on the streets.

"Awesome! This town looks like the perfect place to stay at tonight, you guys fine with that?" Alex asked again.

"Yeah, I could use a good break... Please!" James whined.

"Right after we explore for a bit, there's all kinds of stuff in this town... Can't you wait for just a little bit longer?" Melanie replied to him.

"Um... Well er..." James stuttered, he was trying to come up with an excuse.

"What if those Aether guys come looking for us in this town?" James spoke out suddenly.

"Don't worry about them, we can handle them. I think..." Alex said.

"I don't know... One of them had a very large Pokémon, probably half the size of a two-story house." Melanie exaggerated, laughing a bit from her comment.

"There's no way they'd find you here, were kind of far from that building right?" Alex asked again, trying his best to keep them all safe.

"Yeah, I guess so... I just hope Vulpix will be okay. There's no way I'm giving them her, she doesn't deserve to go back there in those labs." Melanie held on tight to Vulpix.

Refusing to let her go, Melanie made a promise to keep Vulpix safe and to keep her out of harms way, especially from the Aether Foundation.

"Bwee!" Eevee cried happily, he jumped from Alex's arms and landed on the ground perfectly.

He started walking next to Alex, looking up at Vulpix, he wanted her to join him.

"Vul?" Vulpix tilted her head,

Melanie understood what Eevee was trying to do, so she let Vulpix go and let her roam around next to him!

"Vulpi!" Vulpix greeted Eevee again, blushing lightly and feeling happy to walk along with him.

"Vee-ee!" Eevee did the same thing back, glad to enjoy her company again.

 ** _Translation: (Poké-Language!)_**

"So! What should we get for lunch? I'm starving already!" Alex asked everyone.

"Maybe you can get me a spicy meal like you promised a while ago..." Braixen sighed, knowing that Alex didn't understand what she was saying.

"What's up Braixen?" Alex wondered.

"Ugh! Excactly!" Braixen crossed her arms and looked away from Alex, giving him a small attitude.

"Hey! It's not my fault I can't understand you..." Alex mumbled, just enough for her to hear him.

"You're lucky I forgive easily." Braixen sighed.

She stopped for a quick second to look around the town for something she could eat, but she was interrupted when she felt something tugging on her waist from below. She looked down at whatever was tapping her, and she discovered that it was a short little boy, he looked like a preschooler almost.

"Woaaahh!" The kid gazed up at her with curiosity in his eyes.

"Oh boy..." Braixen sighed yet again, having a bad feeling about seeing the little kid.

She wasn't really around children as much, so she had no idea how to deal with preschoolers when it came to them seeing Pokémon. This was going to be a train wreck for her... Her Trainer along with his friends looked down at the preschooler, giving the kid a very happy look.

"Awwh! He's so cute! Hi there little guy!" Melanie greeted him joyfully, kneeling down to his level so she could talk to him.

"Hi!" The little kid greeted back, looking at Melanie with innocence all over his face.

Melanie examined the boy for a while longer until she asked him,

"What's your name sweetie?"

"Jamie!" The boy introduced himself and presented himself to her, holding out a Pokéball in his hand.

He was wearing a Pikachu shirt, and his backpack was colored mostly yellow and black, he was also wearing dark cherry red colored shorts, mixed with a hint of yellow on them, which matched very well with his shirt and backpack.

"Where's your parents?" James cut-in on the conversation the two were having, wondering where Jamie came from.

"My mom said I could explore our home!" Jamie replied back, still looking as happy as ever!

"ah! Looks like he's the adventurous one huh James? He's even got a Pokéball and everything." Alex whispered to his friend.

"Yeah, I wonder what Pokémon he's got in there. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Pichu or a Pikachu even." James mumbled back.

Jamie heard what both of them were saying and he shook his head, saying no to their question. He threw the Pokéball up at the sky, looking enthusiastic about it, he grinned happily and caught the ball when it came back down to him. He pressed the button on the middle of the ball, and it opened, the same old bright light flew right out of the device, and it started forming into a Pokémon! When the light stopped flashing out, it revealed a Raichu! Looking powerful and proud as ever!

"Wow! You have a Raichu?" James asked in amazement, surprised that Jamie had a Pokémon at such a young age.

"Yeah! He was a Pichu when I first met him!" Jamie started giggling adorably, hugging Raichu very tightly.

"Awwh! That's so cute!" Melanie awed at both of them together.

Raichu hugged Jamie back and looked very happy from the affection! You could easily tell that the two had a bond together, just like siblings would share. Braixen took a moment to stare at the two, she looked back to Alex and started blushing a little.

"J-Just like us almost..." Braixen mumbled to herself, as she kept staring at Alex.

"Your Pokémon's cool!" Jamie complimented Alex, looking up to Braixen again.

"Oh, um thanks! I just recently met her! She's... She's an amazing partner to have." Alex mumbled on that last part.

It was enough for Braixen to hear him, which made her heart beat rapidly. She felt embarrassed from him and looked away quickly, saying,

"I hate it when you do that, why can't you bother Eevee and embarrass him instead huh?"

She looked down at Eevee and Vulpix together, they were both playing with each other by tackling one another. It almost made her remember Pancham...

"I really want to hangout with him, he's such a cool Pokémon." Braixen started daydreaming about one of her best friends.

"You'll get the chance later on, I'm bored anyways." A familiar voice appeared out of nowhere.

Apparently she was the only one that heard it, and she could've sworn it was Pancham's voice, but he wasn't out of his Pokéball though...

She shrugged it off and continued to look down at the boy.

"Anyways! It was nice saying hi to you all! My mom'll get worried about me if I'm not back in time!" Jamie pointed his finger towards the sky.

Everyone looked up to see what he was pointing at, and sure enough... There were storm clouds, approaching them at a rapid speed. Jamie immediately started running the other direction, and he headed straight for a random building that appeared to be his house.

"Well... That was something!" Alex started laughing slightly.

"Yeah, but I didn't get the chance to see that Raichu though! They left almost instantly!" James whined like a little baby.

"Oh relax! We got our whole lives to learn about Pokémon, chill out." Alex tried calming him down.

"Um guys, you think we should go over to that hotel just for shelter?" Melanie interrupted their conversation, looking up at the storm clouds.

"Yeah, let's go really quick" Alex told them.

Melanie nodded her head in agreement, picked up Vulpix and Eevee, and she led them all the way to the hotel. The only thing Melanie was hoping, was that they wouldn't have to run into Aether anytime soon. Just thinking about them made her sick to her stomach... Especially Lillie.

Meanwhile, Eevee was too busy staring at Vulpix. He refused to look at something else, he only focused on her, and he only thought about her too.

"Wow, she's a cool Pokémon!" Eevee thought in his head.

Eventually after staring at her for a long period of time, she eventually noticed him and she smiled at him, wagging her tail in the process.

"H-Hi." Vulpix greeted, waving a paw towards him.

"H-H-Hey!" Eevee grinned back, he was a little embarrassed sitting next to her in Melanie's arms.

"About what you said earlier, about um... s-saving me and all that." Vulpix started the conversation.

"Yeah, that... You didn't know what was going on huh?" Eevee got right into it.

"W-Was it true about all of that stuff? A...About those scary white figures I saw everywhere?" Vulpix asked him shyly.

"Yeah, but... Just ignore it though, were with our friends, they'll keep you safe from them I promise!" Eevee answered back, trying to make her worry-free.

"There a-aren't really many of us though..." Vulpix mumbled, looking at the ground next with a frown this time.

"Yeah there are, they have more Pokémon, it's not just us 3, and besides... Braixen here is strong! So she'll protect us, right Braixen?" Eevee replied, looking up at Braixen next.

"Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't I protect you from those evil people?" Braixen asked back in surprise.

"Well er... Um... Well I just thought you wouldn't be okay with, like... Babysitting us? I can't fight! Neither can she!" Eevee answered, panicking a little bit.

"Don't worry about them, were all here as a group, and you'll have to fight eventually... I'll teach you if you want, it's easy." Braixen offered, happy to be his fighting mentor.

"W-W-Well if I have to t-then okay!" Eevee finally made up his mind, now he was Braixen's student.

"Good, I'll leave you with your 'friend' here alone." Braixen giggled, quoting friend, with her fingers.

"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?" Eevee shouted, feeling very embarrassed in front of Vulpix.

Braixen tuned him out and walked back to Alex, leaving him alone.

"So..." Vulpix started, feeling awkward now.

"So? What was it like in those labs?" Eevee wondered.

Vulpix sighed sadly, she was just new to the world, so she didn't really know much about anything.

"It... It was um... Well, They just... Treated me differently, I'm not used to being carried around and getting affection. I-I just don't know how to feel." Vulpix explained herself.

"Don't worry! I was the same way too, I'm still a little shy but I love it when Alex pets me or when Melanie feeds us Poké-Puffs!" Eevee laughed out loud, smiling happily at her again.

"A Puff? What are those things?" If it's edible, then I'm used to the gray mushy food that those white figures fed me." Vulpix wondered curiously.

"You're missing out on a lot! Trust me I'll show you as much fun as you can possibly imagine! Forget about your old lab life. This is the real world we're in!" Eevee confidently gave his speech, motivated to show Vulpix around.

Vulpix simply just nodded in agreement, playing along with him. She had no idea what to expect, but she was in for a treat!

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

Our group of friends finally quickly made their way to the Hotel, just before the rain started falling down. They got there just in time enough to get inside the building. It looked pretty dark out, so the clouds came in quick. Upon entering, it was exactly what a 5-Star hotel would normally look like. Nice lobby area, fancy chairs and couches to sit in, tons of other people around, as well as elevators, staircases, and even a kitchen behind the service desk.

"Doesn't remind me of Aether at all..." Melanie mumbled, saddened a bit.

"Alright guys, let's-" Alex spoke out, but he was quickly interrupted by a sudden shout next to him!

"Aleeex!" The voice called.

He turned to the voice and it was no one other than Korrina!

"Hey! It's you again!" Alex greeted her.

He remembered seeing her on Route 4, but this time she wasn't wearing any of her skating gear. She looked a bit different, almost tropical style even.

"Hi Korrina!" Melanie waved.

"Hey there." Korrina waved back, walking up to the group.

James greeted her as well, simply waving quickly.

"What brings you guys here? I didn't think you'd travel this far from Lumiose." Korrina asked, curious about them.

"It's a very long story, veeeery long... What about you? I thought you had to return to Shalour City or something like that?" Alex questioned her back.

She giggled a bit before shaking her head saying,

"No silly! It got dark out fast, I stayed at Cyllage City for the night, then I left for Brackish Town today in the morning, I just got here. So, I'm just staying here inside until the storm outside passes through!" Korrina laughed once again.

Alex smiled at her and remembered how she bumped into him back on Route 4. The thought of that made him grin at her all of a sudden.

"Remember when you knocked me down last time?" Alex reminded her again.

Saying that caused a frown to form on Korrina's face, making her feel bad about it now...

"O-Oh! About that... I'm sorry about that, I was just in a rush. I'll make it up to you right now!" Korrina replied back, a sudden serious tone in her voice.

She started walking up to the service desk and spoke to the lady there. They had no idea what she was doing, but James had a pretty good idea.

"Think she's renting a room?" James whispered to his two friends.

"Beats me, who knows?" Alex shrugged his shoulders.

"If she is, then that would be really really nice of her!" Melanie started smiling again.

They waited a little while, waiting patiently for Korrina. She eventually came back though, and she had a very happy face on.

"So?" Alex started.

"I rented you three a very nice room for the rest of the day, so please rest after all of that traveling you guys did!" Korrina happily announced.

"Thank you so much! That's so nice of you!" Melanie thanked her.

"No problem! You can order food for free with room service, they have very nice rooms here, so it'll be comfortable. And I'm sure your Pokémon will enjoy it too!" Korrina explained even further.

She stopped talking when she noticed the Vulpix in Melanie's arms, as well as Eevee.

"W-Woah! You have an Eevee? And a Vulpix?" Korrina curiously asked her.

She walked up to Melanie and she took a closer look at the two cute Pokémon. She petted both Vulpix and Eevee's necks, and that made their tails wag furiously.

"Vullpii!" Vulpix giggled adorably.

"Bweevee!" Eevee laughed, loving the affection.

"Awwh! They're adorable. You don't see a lot of Eevee or Vulpix around here." Korrina smiled at the two creatures.

"Well, we found an egg that fell off from a high cliff on Route 8, and it recently hatched, so Eevee's been looking like he's having a good time with us!" Alex explained the story.

"Yeah, we went through a lot today though..." James joined in.

"Well they're both very adorable! ...Come to think of it, I don't remember Vulpix having a white form? They're normally red." Korrina wondered about Vulpix's appearance.

"This Vulpix is from a different region, at least... That's what I've been told. I actually saved the Vulpix when I had to help someone out, some organization called the Aether Foundation." Melanie exclaimed.

Korrina's eyes widened in surprise, she didn't expect to hear Aether from them at all!

"The Aether? So you basically... Stole the Vulpix from them? Was it even theirs? I've heard a lot about the Aether, but they're just quiet and like to keep their things a huge secret." Korrina told them.

"N-No! I didn't steal her! She was kept locked in a cage, and they do these horrible experiments on them too! I managed to escape with a little help, but I'm not going to let any Aether get their hands on Vulpix." Melanie explained to stand her ground.

Korrina fully understood, and it was best for her to not get involved with their Aether problem, so she just moved onto a different topic. She handed Alex a set of keys for their room, then she started talking again.

"Well, I'm sure you guys are very excited to see your room, so I'll let you explore for a bit. Don't worry about Aether or anything! I might not see you tomorrow because I have to leave right away in the morning for Shalour, but enjoy the rest of your day here!" Korrina waved to them, just before walking off to an elevator nearby.

"Thank you again!" Alex thanked her.

"No problem! It's not much of a trouble anyways... Oh! And one last thing! Don't forget to order one of their chocolate cakes here for dessert! They're so good! Cya later!" Korrina shouted back.

She finally entered the elevator, and the doors closed soon after that, leaving the group alone in the lobby.

"Well, she sure was very nice." James mumbled.

"Yeah, that was really sweet of her to do for us. Let's go see our room!" Melanie grinned.

Alex nodded his head happily, then he started leading them to one of the elevators in the big fancy lobby. Once they located the elevator, they all entered, and then Alex pushed one of the buttons that matched the key number, "#14" What was cool about the building was that the elevator led them exactly to the room! The building was pretty tall, so the room numbers matched between 1-50! Everyone stayed quiet for a while, waiting for the elevator to reach their room.

 ** _Minutes later..._**

Nobody spoke a word, if you don't count Vulpix and Eevee talking that is. Melanie took the chance to check on how Vulpix was doing, and she looked like she was happy with Eevee.

"They look so cute together! Too adorable!" Melanie couldn't help but smile wide at the two together in her arms.

"Looks like they're already friends!" James pointed out.

"Yeah! Best friends even." Alex agreed.

"Brai!" Braixen poked at Alex to get his attention, she looked into his bag really quick and took out her favorite brush.

"What's up girl?" Alex asked, he looked at Braixen's fire red ruby colored eyes and noticed the brush she was holding in her hand.

"Xen! Aix!" Braixen did her best to give Alex the most innocent and most adorable face she could possibly make, hoping she wouldn't have to wait longer to get her tail brushed.

"U-Um!" Alex made a noise, trying to resist her cute face.

He tried looking away, but then Braixen took a step towards him so that she could be in his sight of view again. He repeated the same thing and tried again, but Braixen constantly kept on wagging her tail, and trying to convince him.

"Ugh... Alright you win, I'll brush your tail after I take a quick shower." Alex told his partner.

It made Braixen smile again, then she quickly hugged her Trainer's torso, causing her to blush once again...

"She must really like being brushed." James started to chuckle, along with Melanie looking at the two.

"You have no idea..." Alex sighed in defeat.

Melanie giggled at him, and then she suddenly remembered when Pancham was the same way when she first met him.

"You guys should've seen Pancham, he was the same way when he hatched out of his egg, constantly getting me to carry him like a baby. After a couple of days, he eventually let go of it and stopped asking as much. But you should've seen him!" Melanie started to laugh, thinking about Pancham now.

"Tell us the story!" James asked eagerly, very curious to hear her story.

"Please tell! I wanna know about Pancham too!" Alex started paying attention.

"Alright, well..." Melanie started off her story.

 ** _(Flashback!)_**

 _ **Play Song!: (Aquacorde Town - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=0uEHDAIKIbk)**_

It was a very beautiful day in the Kalos region, winter was finally coming to an end, and a very certain young Trainer couldn't wait for spring to come so soon! Melanie was fast asleep in her house, and today was the day where something very exciting was going to happen to her! The sun wasn't quite up yet, and it was a little dark out, but not too dark. There was barely enough sunlight to light the town she was in, Aquacorde Town!

"RIIIIIIIINNNG!" An alarm clock went off! Making a very loud annoying sound!

It made Melanie freak out and she jumped up from the loud noise. She rolled off her bed and fell right off of it, landing on the wooden floor in her room.

"Uuugh... Ow!" She moaned in pain.

She got up slowly and started rubbing her back, trying to forget about the pain from the fall. She looked over to the alarm clock next and groaned very angrily at it.

"Grr... I hate you!" Melanie screamed at it.

She picked up the alarm clock, turned it off, then she threw it away in her room. Upon throwing it, it actually nearly hit one of the most important objects close to her. A black and white Pokémon egg! Seeing the clock flying and missing caused Melanie's heart to drop!

"Oh Arceus! Nooo!" Melanie shouted towards the egg in fear.

She thought she hit it, so that made her freak out a bit. She crawled to the egg quickly to check on it, and luckily... There were no cracks on it either, nor was it damaged at all!

"Thank you Arceus!" Melanie prayed and looked up towards the ceiling of her room.

She picked up the egg gently and carried it in her arms. It felt really warm from the outside, and it also felt very fragile and delicate, like a leaf almost. Melanie stood up and walked back to her bed, she sat on it and looked outside her window. The sun was starting to rise even further, and several morning people were already outside preparing for the day.

"I wonder when this egg is going to hatch, it's been so long... Almost a month of just raising it." Melanie sighed.

She hasn't really been into becoming a Pokémon Trainer. Yeah, she's been outside and interacted with them before, but she never really went on a journey yet. Little did she know was that... That journey might be starting today!

 _ **Seconds later...**_

Melanie kept on hugging the egg, giving it as much warmth as she possibly could, it was given to her as a gift from her grandma. She remembered how special the egg was, based on its appearance as well. You rarely saw different colored eggs, they were usually a tan-ish sandy color, mixed with small green spots on them.

"You'll hatch one day, I can't wait to see what you look like." Melanie smiled at the small object.

She decided to walk back and put the egg back where it was, back into its small basket that it came from. It was a very cozy basket, it was made of a very soft white cloth, mixed with a small warm blanket wrapped around the inside. When she got to the basket, she placed the egg back into its nest, and wanted to leave it alone for a bit longer. Then, she looked back outside, and thought about what her future would be like.

"Wonder what I'll actually experience when I do start my journey... I wonder what friends I'll make, or how many adventures I'll go on, or even how many Pokémon I'll find and meet!" She thought more about the subject.

She enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere in her home town. The water from the river flowing gently made it beautiful, as well as the sunrise reflecting off of the water. Then she looked over to the Santalune Forest across from the river, and she saw several Beautifly flying around the sky, as well as several other Flying Type Pokémon!

"Melanie! Sweetie! It's time for breakfast!" A very gently voice came from below the house.

Upon hearing that, Melanie took a quick smell so that she could find out what was on the menu for breakfast. She could hear and smell the delicious scent of pancakes, syrup, scrambled eggs, and it made her immediately run straight for her door. As soon as she passed by the egg, she looked at it for a second, thinking that it moved from its position. It was tilted a bit to the side, and she didn't remember seeing it that way after she placed it back.

"Huh?" Melanie thought.

After a couple more seconds of staring at it, the egg moved a small bit again! It surprised Melanie! It made her heart start to pound, suddenly excited! The egg started glowing, and it was vibrating too, then a few cracks started to appear on the shell.

"Oh my Arceus! Is this really happening!?" Melanie freaked out even more.

The egg cracked itself some more, until eventually... The head of the shell broke open! Once there was an opening on the top, a small Pokémon popped its head from the egg, and it revealed a Pancham! By then, Melanie gasped at the small Pokémon, still surprised, shocked, and wanted to pick him up as soon as she could.

"Pwaaaaa!" The small panda-like Pokémon started to cry all of a sudden, which made Melanie feel bad instantly.

She took the opportunity to reach out for the Pancham, lifting him up from his arms slowly, and carefully. She held him close to her, and then she carried him in her arms, hugging him tightly.

"Sssh! There! There! No need to cry!" Melanie told the Fighting Type.

"Pwann?" Pancham looked up at her and blinked for a quick second.

He just stared her down and observed the large grin on her face. She looked like she was really happy to see him, but he wasn't scared at all. He felt comfortable sitting in her arms, and he started to smile back at her too. After a couple of seconds, he instantly started hugging her torso, and it felt nice to him.

"Awh! You're so adorable! It's about time you finally hatch!" Melanie whispered to the small little Pokémon.

"P-Pan-cha!" Pancham giggled, and hugged her even tighter.

Melanie almost forgot that her mother called her down, she didn't want her breakfast to get cold, so she ran out of her bedroom and headed straight towards the bathroom. As soon as she entered the room, she closed the door behind her and made her way to the sink. Upon reaching it, Melanie set Pancham down gently on the counter, but that was a huge mistake!

"Pw-Pwa-Pwaaaaaaancha!" Pancham started to cry again, he was raising his arms up at her, as if he wanted to touch her.

At this point, hearing him cry almost made Melanie's heart shatter into pieces. She certainly didn't like hearing Pokémon cry in general, not so much newborn ones...

"U-Um! Ssh! Wait! Let me ju-!" Melanie tried calming him down again, but she was cutoff from his loud crying.

"PAAAAAAAAAAA!" Pancham's cry was a lot louder, you could probably hear his crying from a different region!

Melanie had no idea what to do, she noticed his arms were up. Usually baby's did that if they wanted to be carried right? It was worth a shot anyway... She took the chance since she was out of options, and she quickly scooped him up back into her arms again. As soon as Pancham was in her arms, he stopped crying instantly, which made Melanie a bit surprised.

"So that's why you were crying huh?" Melanie thought to herself.

She kept rocking him in her arms, and then she tickled his small belly. When he felt the contact from her finger, he started giggling adorably! Melanie couldn't help but just smile at the baby Pokémon, he looked like he was happy again, which was a good sign at least!

"Pwan Pan!" Pancham hugged Melanie once again, which caused a small blush to smile on his face.

"Awwh! You're the cutest !" Melanie spoke with soft words.

She hugged him back and was glad that he finally hatched out of his egg, it was a great day for her! Getting the chance to meet her partner!

 ** _(Flashback End!)_**

"And that's basically how it went, whenever I put him down... He always begs or cries, trying to find a way to get me to carry him around all day. He's probably going to get a little jealous since we have Vulpix on the team now." Melanie started to chuckle to herself.

"Vwull Pwi!" Vulpix cried, giggling quietly with Eevee.

Alex and James both payed close attention to her story, they couldn't help but laugh with her after hearing that story!

"So how else was he like when you were taking care of him?" James asked even further.

"Well..." Melanie spoke again.

 _ **(Flashback Continued!)**_

"PANCHAM!" Melanie screamed at her Pokémon in annoyance.

She was trying to get him to eat his food, she was serving him brussel sprouts since he never really ate any vegetables, all he ever ate were Poké-Puffs and dessert foods, such as ice-cream and so on...

"Pan! Cham Pa!" Pancham looked away from her, crossing his arms and giving her an attitude back.

"Pancham please... You need to eat your vegetables! Otherwise you won't grow up healthy! Jeez... It's like I treat you as if I'm your mother." Melanie replied back.

"P-Pa!" Pancham nodded his head on that last part she said.

She noticed his nod and sighed in defeat... There was no way she was going to get him to eat the veggies.

"You really need to eat them!" Melanie told him once again.

"Chaaaaaam!" Pancham yelled at her, shaking his head so that she could understand him.

"They can't be that bad!" Melanie shouted in frustration.

Pancham rolled his eyes and went ahead and picked up a brussel sprout from the plate he was served. He opened his mouth and proceeded to put it inside, making Melanie hopeful about it. He decided to trick her instead, and he threw the green object at her! Melanie didn't see it coming, so it hit her straight on her face, surprising her!

"Ah! HEY!" Melanie screamed again.

"Pa-Paa Cha!" Pancham started laughing like a maniac, seeing the expression on her face.

She had a very serious one too, in fact... She just had enough of this already!

"Ugh... I'll make a deal with you, If you eat just one! then I'll give you a quarter piece of one of your favorite Poké-Puffs! For every one bruseel sprout you eat, you get a quarter... Deal?" Melanie offered, holding out her hand to shake with his small paw.

"P-P...An" Pancham thought about it a little bit before giving her an answer.

He started tapping his finger on his chin, still thinking... This made Melanie worried, she had to think of something else to offer.

"If you finish the whole plate... Then... Um, let's see..." Melanie started.

She looked around the kitchen for something to offer him, until she spotted her huge box of macrons next!

"Ah-hah! If you eat the whole plate, then you'll get to have some of those cream filled macrons in the jar!" Melanie smiled at her idea, she pointed towards the jar.

Pancham stared at the jar for a moment, then it didn't take very long until he finally made a decision. He went ahead and touched Melanie's hand, meaning that he would agree to the deal. After that, He took a brussel sprout and plucked it into his mouth. Melanie thought that he wouldn't be able to eat at least one! He started chewing on it slowly, and he had a smirk on his face.

"D-Did you just..." Melanie stuttered in anger.

She was tricked yet again, Pancham didn't mind the taste of the veggies... He was just doing it in order to get more sweets!

"Pa!" Pancham giggled again, plucking a few more brussels in his mouth.

He eventually took the whole plate and shoved all of them down his throat, and once he finished chewing on them all, he set the plate back down and put his paws behind his head, giving Melanie an evil smile.

"Uugghh, Well at least you ate them!" Melanie groaned.

She saw Pancham playing with the leaf in his mouth, and she could tell he was waiting for her to make her end of the deal. To be honest, she wasn't going to let him get away with the tricks anymore. She walked over to the jar of macrons, and picked it up quick. Pancham noticed her behind him, and he gave her a very happy cute face.

"Pan-chaaa!" Pancham reached for the jar she was holding, ready to eat the sweet macrons.

Melanie opened the jar very slowly, then she took out a pink colored macron, that had a jelly-cream inside the center. She opened her mouth and took a bite from the sweet snack, enjoying the taste of it!

"Mmm!" She licked her lips and finished the whole macron in an instant.

Pancham kept on reaching for the jar, he stood up and gave her a huge smile! But... Melanie looked at Pancham and gave him a face, as if she was very bored.

"What do you think you're doing mister? You can't have a macron." Melanie exclaimed.

"PANCHAAM?!" Pancham gasped in shock, he expected her to give him one.

He gave her a very ticked off face, and he was about to explode in anger. Melanie saw his facial expression, and without hesitating... She ran right out of the kitchen, leaving a very angry and confused Pancham behind!

"Catch me if you can!" Melanie screamed, laughing her head off.

She ran to the living room next room over, and jumped onto the couch. She landed on it with ease, lying down on the piece of furniture. She held the jar tighter and tighter when she heard little footsteps running towards her. She knew who it was obviously... So she looked down from the couch and saw her little Pokémon staring up at her.

"Chamma!"

"You're not getting any of these macrons until you apologize young baby." Melanie stuck her tongue out at him, making him feel embarrassed.

Pancham sighed and blushed from what she called him. He kept staring at her with his red face, and he gave her a sad look.

"Pa.. Pancham Pan..." Pancham mumbled.

He reached his arms up for her to pick him up like he always did, and Melanie didn't mind it at all. She picked him up and sat him on top of her chest. Once he got comfortable, she opened up the jar again and gave him a few macrons to enjoy.

"There there, it was just a prank! You look funny and adorable when you blush though!" Melanie complimented.

"PAAAAN!" Pancham ignored what she said, and just focused his mind back into the macrons!

 ** _(Flashback End!)_**

"So all he basically eats are sweets?" Alex started cracking up!

"N-No! Well, I guess so... But I DO make sure he eats healthy though too." Melanie interrupted herself by laughing on that first part.

Alex then looked over to James, who couldn't help but chuckle himself.

"What about you bud? Any good stories? Or anything at all!?" Alex asked curiously.

James thought about that question for a while before finally replying,

"Well, there was that moment where I saved my Grovyle from a really creepy looking person. He was just a Treecko at first, but he wouldn't have gotten out of there alive if I hadn't have explored the forest route back in my home town!"

"Tell us!" Melanie demanded nicely, still giggling about her own story.

"Alright alright fine! Well then..." James started off.

 _ **(Flashback!)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Littleroot Town - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=3sXqypTqUKY)**_

Another... Very... Peaceful... and hot summer day in Hoenn! The Region was filled with lots of different things to do and explore! Wether it was exploring towns, surfing the large ocean sea, catching Pokémon, or even battling to become the champion too! James was just outside in his backyard in Littleroot Town, hanging out by himself, and enjoying the sun beating down on him with the hot summer heat!

"I... Am, so BOOOOOOORED!" James complained.

He shouted out towards the sky with his hands behind his neck, lying down on the grass. He had nothing else to do, except planning on being lazy this summer. He just wanted to play video games inside of his house, in his room for one day, with no lights or anything... But his mother forced him to stay outside and do something different for a change!

"You know... You could explore the forest!" A voice next to him suggested.

It was his longtime preschooler friend, Kyle. He's known him for a couple of years, pretty much ever since he was just an infant!

"You know we're not allowed to leave the town, we don't have any Pokémon on us." James sighed, frustrated by that rule.

"Oh come on! We do it all the time, it'll be fun!" Kyle tried to motivate him into doing it.

"Well... Give me one good reason why I should go out there into the forest?" James asked.

"Um... Erm," Kyle stuttered, not ready to answer the question.

"Excactly..." James groaned.

"Let's just go to the gate and go on Route 101, then we can go into the forest, deal?" Kyle stuck his hand out.

James didn't want to be left here all day, so he just shook his friend's hand anyway.

"Let's go!" Kyle led the way.

He jumped the fence over James' backyard, and he made it outside. James followed him quickly, and jumped over it. He turned around to see if his mother was around, but thankfully she wasn't..,

"Alright let's go quick!" James whispered.

Both Kyle and James started speed walking to the gate of the town which led to Route 101! When they saw the gate, both of the kids started sprinting towards it! Once they got there, there was little kid that popped up out of the bushes.

"Hey! Stop!" The kid screamed at them.

She held out a Pokéball in her hand and crossed her arms, giving them both killer looks!

"Gah! What do you want Emily?" James asked the little girl.

"You're not allowed to pass this gate, especially you two..." Emily announced.

"Come on, let us through this one time!" Kyle tried getting through her head.

"Um... No!" Emily started giggling.

She regained her focus and was giving them a hard time.

"I'm just kidding! But seriously... Only James can go though, Kyle I'm so sorry!" Emily apologized.

Kyle looked heartbroken in defeat, he didn't expect her to say that to him. James noticed him looking a bit upset about it, so he walked up to him and patted him on the back.

"Don't worry about that, we'll go sneak out tonight alright?" He whispered into Kyle's ear.

Saying that instantly made Kyle happy again. Kyle just shrugged Emily off, and then started making his way in the other direction, walking to his house. James still felt bad for him... But he was also excited to go onto Route 101! Kids his age... Weren't allowed near the gate, because it's too dangerous. Battling without a Pokémon in the wild is very risky, so that's why it's not allowed.

"I trust you James, I know how much you love Pokémon and how much you wanna see and explore and study even, so go ahead my friend! Have fun!" Emily stepped aside, leaving the gate open for him.

James didn't feel nervous at all! He walked through the gate slowly, and eventually made it to the other side. He was finally... On Route 101!

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 101 - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=gtjzrx5k0IY)**_

"Yes, finally! I've never been outside of the village in such a while." James smiled to himself.

He put his hands behind his head and strolled through the grassy Route, admiring the environment surrounding him. There were tons of Pokémon he's seen before, a lot of them caught his eye. Such as Poochyena, Zigzagoon, Wurmble, Lillipup, and even Sewaddle! He loved Pokémon a lot! Which made him want to explore places in the first place. The only thing he ever wanted to do was just study them and learn more about all of their species and behavior.

"Why can't my mom just take me to Slateport City... Then my uncle wouldn't mind me at all." James sighed again.

He walked through the grass and something popped up and jumped right out of the grass. It was a Lillipup, and it looked very friendly towards James, rather than angered.

"Lil! Lilli!" Lillipup cried.

James expected this to happen, and he caught Lillipup quick, smiling at the dog-like Pokémon!

"Hey there little guy!" James greeted the small creature.

He rubbed the creature's ears gently, and eventually worked his way to the back. James saw Lillipup wagging his tail pretty quickly, which put a large smile on his face! Soon after that, the Lillipup jumped from his arms and did a quick flip in the air. Once he did the flip, his body started glowing a bright purple void color, and the Lillipup transformed into a different Pokémon! The real form of the Lillipup was a Zorua!

"Zoorra! The mischievous Pokémon started to giggle at James.

"Woah! You changed appearances!" James gasped in amazement.

He found it really cool for a Pokémon to do that. The only one he knew that could do it, would have to be a Ditto.

"Wait... Are you a-" James stuttered next.

The Illusion creature giggled some more, before nodding his head at James.

"Z-Zzzooruaa" he started laughing out loud.

"Yeah! A Zorua! Wow... I've heard rumors of them being around here, but they're really rare too!" James told the Pokémon.

He picked him up slowly and he rested him in his arms. Once he did that, he started rubbing the little red fluff on his head. The Zorua's mouth was wide open, and he looked up at James. It seemed that the Pokémon was really enjoying the affection!

"Ruaaaa!" Zorua screamed in joy, wagging his tail rapidly again.

"You remind me a lot like an Eevee, heh... You're cute!" James mumbled to him.

Zorua's sky blue eyes widened, and he hugged James next, rubbing his head on his torso. As soon as James was about to ask the Zorua something, he heard a distant cry nearby. It sounded as if it came from a different part of the route, just next to them. James held onto Zorua and started exploring towards the voice. He ignored the route's path, pushing several bushes out of the way, as well as almost stepping on small Pokémon...

"I really hope I don't step on anyone!" He thought.

He carefully made his way through the bushes, confused about wether or not the grass was touching his legs, or small Pokémon. He ignored the thought of that, and he just continued pushing through. Once he made it across the trail of bushes in his path, he came upon a small opening in the forest he was in. The small opening was surrounded by lots of berry bushes, and it was well-lit from the sunlight above.

"Zoa?" Zorua noticed a small little green Pokémon lying on the ground. He pointed his paw towards the creature so that James could notice him as well.

"Huh?" James spoke softly.

He took a few steps towards the Pokémon and bent down beside it, trying his best to not startle it. The Pokémon didn't move at all, and James couldn't tell if it was asleep or injured. He turned it around so that it would face him instead, and it was covered in tons of leaves and vines. Without thinking, James took the leaves off of the creature's body, and he discovered that it was a Treecko! He lifted Zorua onto his shoulder, and he picked up the Treecko slowly.

"T-T-Tr..." The grass type groaned in pain.

James examined the gecko's body and noticed a small burn on it's backside. It looked like it was injured from the burn, so James didn't want to touch the mark on it's body.

"Oh no... You're burned! We gotta take you to Kyle, he knows exactly how to cure status conditions like these." James whispered silently.

He started running back the way he came and he immediately got the feeling as if someone were watching him!

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Where do you think you're goin'?" A voice yelled at him instantly.

He was startled from the sudden shout, and he took a couple of steps back, eventually returning to the opening again. There was a large bush rustling in front of him, so he backed away even further from it, not knowing what to expect. Once the bush stopped moving, an adult-like person jumped right out, scaring James again. The person looked as if she were an adult, she was a girl, and she was wearing a red uniform that looked like a sweater. The sweater was colored a dark cherry red, and it had a large 'M' symbol on the chest where the zipper was. She was also wearing a hood, which had yellow horns on the top of it, and it covered most of her face.

"W-Who're you?" James asked in fear, shaking a bit from the strange girl.

"Who am I? Let's just say... I'm a fiery magma grunt, looking for a Pokémon to take. That Pokémon you have there is mines, hand it over, or else I'll scorch you into ashes!" The girl demanded.

She started taking a few steps towards James, and she had a Pokéball in her hand, ready to throw at any moment!

"No way, he looks badly hurt, did you give him a burn?" James suddenly shouted back.

"Pfft... Who cares, the boss would probably promote me if I come to him with a Pokémon that can 'Special' Evolve, after it's third evolution! Give me the Treecko, or else I'll hurt you and your weak tea-" The girl started speaking again, but she stopped talking when she noticed Zorua sitting on his shoulders, giving her an angry look.

"A-A.. A Zorua!?" She sounded pretty surprised to see the dark purple rare creature right in front of her.

"Don't you even think about it!" James yelled out, he took Zorua off of his shoulders and held onto him tight.

"Give me that Zorua!" The girl commanded him again, she threw the Pokéball in her hand into the air, and a Slugma came right out instantly.

James didn't have any Pokémon at all to counter it, so the only thing that went on in his mind was "Run!". He started taking off in the other direction, but the girl stopped him by having Numel shooting an Ember attack at him. James looked back and saw the projectile being launched at him, bracing himself from being hit by the move. He felt Zorua breaking free from his grip, and the dark Pokémon jumped out of the way to counter the move with Dark Pulse! As soon as the two projectiles hit each other, they caused a huge explosion to occur! Leaving a lot of black smoke everywhere! This gave James a chance to get away from the grunt! He took the chance and ran back to Zorua, picking him up in the process. Then, he started running the other direction towards the way he came from, holding on tight to the two Pokémon in his arms.

"D-Don't worry guys! We'll be safe in no time!" James told them both.

Treecko was breathing pretty heavily, which worried James a bit, and Zorua was also feeling pretty tired already... James just kept on running and running away, not looking back at all! He just concentrated on getting out of there fast, and getting back to his hometown.

 ** _A couple minutes later..._**

At this point James was starting to get tired himself, he eventually made it back to Littleroot Town, exhausted from all the running. He came back to the gate, and walked right through it. Once he finally made it back home, it was the same as he remembered... Nobody seemed to mind him at all, but Emily wasn't there at the gate like she usually was.

"She's probably on break or something..." James mumbled.

He didn't wanna think about that right now though, all he cared about was Treecko... He searched the town for Kyle, and eventually spotted him just sitting on the ground.

"KYLE!" James shouted.

Kyle noticed his friend when he looked up, and had a smile on his face once he saw James return. But that smile quickly faded away when he also noticed that James was carrying a Treecko and a Zorua.

"What happened?!" Kyle asked in worry, not taking his eyes off of the Treecko.

"It's... *Pant* It's a long story! *sigh* C-Can you take care of this Treecko? I found it really hurt. I also found a Zorua, but we were attacked by some girl who wanted to take the Treecko for herself! She seemed like a bad person, so I didn't trust her from the start!" James explained everything to him.

"S-Sure! Yeah! Give it here, I'll patch it up. What's wrong with it anyways?" Kyle wondered.

"He has a burn on his back, a pretty big one... He looks like he's in a lot of pain, so try not to hurt it alright?" James whispered into his ear.

"Right away!" Kyle nodded, he turned the other direction and ran straight for his house.

"*Phew* Good... Now we're actually safe! Huh Zorua?" James sighed in relief.

He looked down at Zorua and saw him wagging his tail happily, the illusion Pokémon simply hugged James in return. James immediately had an idea popping up in his mind, so he started grinning towards Zorua and asked him a quick question,

"D-Do you w-want to come with me? Or live with me even? It'll probably be safer for you if you transform into a different Pokémon."

Zorua didn't have to think twice about that question, he jumped into the air doing that same flip pose... And then he transformed himself into a Squirtle!

"Squi! Squirt!" Zorua gave James his response.

James understood what he was trying to tell him, so he picked up Zorua and they both made their way over to Kyle's house!

 ** _(Flashback End!)_**

"Wait a minute! Your Wartortle isn't real?" Ales asked, he was shocked about James' story.

"Mhm, I trust you guys, so I figured I'd have to tell you two eventually... Come on out bud!" James laughed from his comment.

He grabbed his bag and took out an Ultra Ball. It was a different type of Pokéball, and it looked pretty cool. James pressed the button on the middle of the black and yellow ball, and this time, a dark purple color light raced right out of it!

"Waar!" Wartortle shouted.

He came right out and stood in the middle of the elevator, wondering why James called him out.

"Buddy? Can you change back into your normal form? I think it's time they finally know the truth about you!" James smiled down at him, while petting his shell.

Wartortle looked a little afraid about doing it, but he trusted his Trainer. He jumped up into the air and did a flip, being covered by that same purple light again. Once he landed back on the elevator floor, he revealed his true form, as a Zorua!

"Zorua!" The Pokémon cried in happiness.

He shook his fur off, and jumped right onto James' shoulder, getting himself comfortable.

"Awwh! So that's what a Zorua looks like!" Melanie couldn't help but find it an adorable Pokémon.

Alex took his Dex out and scanned Zorua really quick!

"Zorua, the Dark Type Illusion Fox Pokémon, To protect themselves from danger, they hide their true identities by transforming into Pokémon!" The Pokédex explained.

"Wow! I gotta say... Zorua are very very rare, you're lucky you found one! But how did you get it to go from a Squirtle to a Wartortle? You made it look like a real Water type!" Alex asked in amazement.

"Easy, Zorua has the power to transform into any Pokémon, and it can use one of its moves as well." James answered back.

Both Alex and Melanie were surprised and shocked to see a Zorua. They were tricked this whole time and they had no idea!

"Well still, that was a really cool trick you played on us! He looks powerful too! Based on those battles we had." Alex chuckled at his friend, while petting Zorua lightly.

"Heh... Well, at least you know him now. The only reason I kept him as a Squirtle is because a lot of Pokémon Hunters might take him away from me, and sell him to make money!" James sighed heavily.

"That's okay, we'll keep him safe regardless! We're all looking for each others backs!" Alex smiled.

"Mhm!" Melanie nodded in agreement, watching Eevee and Vulpix together.

James grinned at Alex's comment, feeling pretty good that he met him!

 ** _A couple of seconds later..._**

"BEEP!" A loud noise came from the elevator control panel.

The doors from the elevator opened, and there was another door behind it, with a keyhole on it. Alex led his friends out of the elevator, and went ahead and unlocked the door. Once he did that, they entered their room and they gasped at what they saw! The hotel room looked really cozy inside! It had a fireplace, a balcony with a nice view outside, a large HD Flatscreen TV, one bedroom with three large king sized beds, two showers, two bathrooms, a medium sized dining table, three large comfy couches to sit on, and even a Kitchen with a fancy looking Oven, and a large Refrigerator.

"Woaaah! Look how amazing this place looks!" Melanie gasped, excited.

"Yeah it is! We're going to be sleeping good tonight!" Alex agreed with her.

He looked at the fridge first and opened the door, and inside of it... Was filled with lots of food, and cakes too!

"This was really nice of Korrina," James exclaimed.

Eevee, Vulpix, and Zorua jumped off of Melanie and James, and they explored the place some more too! Braixen soon followed them after admiring the look of the main room. She took a Pokéball that was attached to Melanie's bag, and she walked away with it.

 ** _Several hours later..._**

 ** _Translation: (Poké-Language!)_**

 _ **Play Song!: (Luxury Spa Bath Time: Massage Music, Relaxing Songs, Tranquility Music Therapy: watch?v=QkZio6yLAmU)**_

"Ahh! This is the life!" Pancham moaned in relaxation.

He had his hands behind his head, and he was just in the hot tub that was in one of the bathrooms. It was a really large tub, and pretty much every Pokémon in the group were all enjoying theirselves. The only ones who weren't in the tub were Grovyle, Fletchinder, Vulpix, and Staravia.

"You said it!" Braixen sighed in relief.

She was enjoying herself sitting in the tub.

"Hey why don't you heat this tub up some more? It's starting to get cold a bit." Pancham started to complain.

"Don't start Panchy..." Braixen told him.

She grabbed her stick that was right next to her, and she lit it up with her mouth. She had it floating just above the tub, so that it would warm up the water slowly. Meanwhile Eevee was enjoying himself in the tub, but Vulpix didn't stay in very long. Being an Ice Type meant that she didn't like very warm water all that much. She just sat there on the ledge of the tub, wagging her tail happily. Bagon was lying on his back in the warm water, minding his own business.

"How come you three don't wanna come in and join us?" Pancham asked his friends.

"I'm fine, I can still feel the heat coming from that water... So either way, I'll just rest here." Staravia replied.

"Yep, what she said." Grovyle joined in.

"Yup!" Fletchinder agreed with them.

"Well, as long as you're enjoying yourselves then I guess we're all good..." Pancham smiled, closing his eyes next.

"Hehe..." A voice started giggling from behind him.

"CANNON BAAAALLL!" Zorua shouted, he suddenly jumped from the ledge of the tub and landed smack down on the middle of the water.

Except... He didn't do a cannon ball, he didn't expect himself to fall down so fast, so he accidentally performed a belly flop instead! He sunk underneath the water and waited a couple of seconds before returning back to the surface.

"AHHH!" Zorua screamed in pain.

He floated back up and looked like he was in a lot of pain from what he just did.

"Hah! Backfired!" Bagon started laughing.

Everyone else laughed at Zorua and doing that, made him feel embarrassed.

"Shut up!" Zorua yelled at everyone.

Soon after that, everyone just took the time to rest, closing their eyes and relaxing for once. It was really nice, enjoying the heat and feeling well rested. Nobody spoke a word, and nobody made a move... It was just simply peaceful!

"So..." Eevee whispered to Vulpix.

"So what?" Vulpix smiled down at him.

"What do you think of them? They're not that bad right? You'll get used to everyone." Eevee mumbled.

"Y-Yeah they all seem really nice, this feels a whole lot better than the labs. I like the heat sometimes... But not all the time." Vulpix whispered back, lying down.

She was blushing when she saw him swimming closer to her.

"What did they do to you back in the labs?" Eevee wanted to know more.

"You don't wanna know..." Vulpix sighed, thinking that this would be a bad idea to tell him.

"Please tell me, I'll keep it between us. You can trust me." Eevee swore on his heart.

He got out of the water and sat down next to her, desperately wanting to hear more.

"Alright, I trust you Eevee! Here's what they did..." Vulpix started off.

 ** _(Yet Another Flashback!)_**

Dark, cold, alone, afraid, and hungry... That was all she ever felt, locked up in her cage and wondering what was going on. Aether Labs... It was very dark down there, and all she heard were very loud noises coming from outside. The door was shut in her Icy cage, so it was pitch black. Next thing she knew was that the cage was suddenly shaking! Which terrified her a bit, the shaking didn't stop until after a while... But once it did, the door suddenly opened, and there was a bright flashing light that blinded her. She stayed in her cage, refusing to come out, but she felt herself being lifted out. She found herself outside of the cage, and there were bright flashing lights in the room.

"Ahh! My precious little Pokémon. The president would kill me if you're not alive to see her." Faba gave her a smirk.

"H-H-Huh?" Vulpix mumbled slightly.

She opened her eyes and got used to the lighting, and she saw Faba right in front of her. His hands were wrapped around her body, and he was holding her pretty tightly.

"Come now, we must feed and clean you up. You've been in your cage for the whole day already." Faba said.

He started walking to a different room and it was a kitchen, he set Vulpix down on the floor and started opening several cabinets, looking for food. Vulpix didn't know wether or not she should just run out and leave, but she felt a collar on her neck. Then she saw a remote device on his lab coat's belt, which made her shake a bit.

"W-What is this p-place?" Vulpix stuttered in fear.

After a couple of minutes of confusion, she looked up at Faba and saw him placing a food bowl in front of her. Vulpix examined the bowl for a quick second and was shocked by the way her food looked. It was mushy, and it was liquid-like too, the color on it was a whitish gray, and it resembled oatmeal a lot, but it smelled really bad.

"U-Ugh! T-That's food? I-Wanna go h-home." Vulpix started to cry.

She had no idea why she was here either... The last thing she remembered was being with her parents, brothers and sisters, back in Alola, on top of a mountain, in their icy home.

"EAT!" Faba shouted at the daydreaming Pokémon.

He was about to press the shock collar button on his belt, which made Vulpix shake even more in fear. It was enough to make her stuff her face into the food. It had a very sour taste, it was disgusting, and it didn't taste like any type of food at all. It almost made Vulpix vomit, but she knew that if she didn't eat it, then she would have to get shocked.

"Eww...!" Vulpix finished the food and stuck her tongue out, rubbing it spelt.

She figured that if she rubbed her tongue, than the taste would come off... But it didn't, it stayed there in her mouth, stinking up her breath. Vulpix didn't have a chance to look around or get herself to walk, she was just being carried by Faba.

 ** _Moments later..._**

The next thing she witnessed was herself being placed in an empty tub, in a bathroom.

"Now you stay there, and you'll stay in this tub, when I get back you better not be out of that tub... Cause if you are, I will shock you, understand me?" Faba yelled.

Vulpix nodded her head at him so he would go away already. He didn't leave without turning the faucet on, and he set the water to steaming hot.

"O-Oh no!" Vulpix groaned.

The hot water started filling the tub, and when it touched Vulpix's feet, she suddenly reacted to it. It didn't feel right to her at all, she enjoyed the cold... Not the warmth. It didn't hurt her, but she felt very uncomfortable sitting in hot water. Faba had already left, and Vulpix was ready to jump right out, and try and leave the room.

"No, I'm not doing this!" Vulpix screamed.

She jumped right out of the tub, and she started running outside of the bathroom. Once she exited, she saw the room's door, and her heart started pounding rapidly. All she did was just sprint to the door as fast as she could, hoping there would be an exit out of this room. She was just inches away from going past the door, but she felt the worst pain of all!

"BZZZZT!" The collar made a high pitched sound, shocking her for a couple of seconds.

"AAAAAAAUGHHH!" Vulpix screamed in pain from the electrical shock.

She couldn't stand up and she fell to the floor. Everything started blacking out and she was feeling fuzzy in her brain.

"Where do you think you're going? I haven't cleaned you up yet." Faba exclaimed.

"N-Nooooo!" Vulpix groaned in pain.

She tried to get back up to her feet, but it was no use. Her neck was hurting a lot, and she didn't feel herself. Her eyes started closing on their own, and everything went black slowly... She knew that this wouldn't be good for her...

 ** _(Flashback End!)_**

"They just fed me horrible disgusting mush, and gave me very hot baths... It was just, terrible..." Vulpix finished the flashback.

It made Eevee's heart hurt a bit hearing her story. He didn't speak a word at all, he just comforted her by giving her a quick hug.

"That all changed until you showed up, you and your friends saved me from those terrible people." Vulpix blushed again and smiled at him.

She hugged him back and licked him as a token of her gratitude.

"H-Huh!" Eevee blushed hard, after he felt her tongue licking his cheek.

"Thank you for that, I know I can trust you now." Vulpix mumbled to him.

Eevee smiled back at her, and they continued to embrace each other, not caring about anything else. They saw their friends falling asleep, and it was basically just the two of them awake. Eventually, they decided to join the rest, and they closed their eyes... Taking a restful nap!

 ** _(Poké-Language off!)_**

"That was a very good dinner Melanie, you sure know how to make the best tomato soup I've ever eaten." Alex complimented her cooking.

"T-Thank you Alex!" Melanie blushed from the compliment.

All three friends were sitting at the dining table, finishing up their food for dinner. They were eating a very delicious soup that Melanie made, and they didn't worry at all for Aether either. They stayed there all night, and the storm finally cleared away. Then, all three of them started cleaning up the table, taking their bowls and plates to the sink. After that, James felt like he was getting a little tired after the long day they had.

"Well, this was really nice!" James yawned.

They were sitting on the couch, watching random television channels, a little tired.

"Going to bed then?" Melanie asked him.

"Yeah, I'm tired... Where are the Pokémon at?" James wondered.

"They're all sleeping already, they're just in the hot tub." Alex answered his question.

"They're still in there? Did they eat already?" James asked again, a little worried.

"Yeah, I gave them their food pellets and bowls in the bathroom, they're fine... Just relax and go to bed." Alex told him.

"Alright fine!" James yawned again, as he started making his way towards the bedroom.

He left Melanie and Alex alone together on the couch, and they didn't speak a word to each other at all. A certain image popped up in Melanie's head, and she gave Alex a funny smile.

"W-What?" Alex asked curiously, thinking about what she was going to ask him.

"We never got to eat that chocolate cake, and I bet you Braixen will kill you for not brushing her tail tonight." Melanie giggled at him.

"We'll eat cake in the morning, and I'll do all that stuff in the morning too... What's for breakfast?" Alex asked back, laughing a bit.

"Oh shut up! I'm tired alright?" Melanie sighed.

She didn't wanna think about cooking breakfast now... She just shrugged it off and pretended that he never asked her that in the first place. Alex looked outside and saw the balcony door open, an idea popped up in his head and he asked Melanie,

"Hey, do you wanna go outside to the balcony and look outside?"

Melanie nodded her head pretty quickly to that question, they both got up from the couch and made their way over to the balcony door. Once they reached it, they went outside and admired the view that they had. They were pretty high up, and they saw several cities lit up in the night sky.

"Wow!" Both of them spoke at the same time.

They saw the lights coming from Lumiose City, as well as Shalour City too. It was quite a beautiful sight seeing the forests and cities lit up.

"I think that's Shalour town just down there, it's pretty far." Melanie pointed towards the city.

"Yeah, I think you're right! I can't wait to go there and see what I'm gonna see. I think that's where my third gym badge is located at." Alex smiled to himself.

They both sat down on the balcony's floor, and they rested for a bit. They sat close together, and they didn't say a word after that... Melanie was too busy thinking about other things that were currently going on, such as Aether for example.

"What's wrong?" Alex said to her, noticing her worried face.

She waited a while before replying back by saying,

"Oh nothing... Just thinking about Aether, and what I should dream of doing while I'm with you guys."

She sighed next after saying that, and she closed her eyes, and looked down.

"Don't worry about Aether, we'll be fine I promise. I won't let anything happen to us... I promise." Alex promised.

"Thank you Alex, I've never met anyone as nice as you." Melanie smiled back, and opened her eyes again.

She tucked back a piece of hair that was sticking out behind her ear, and she blushed lightly in front of him.

"N-No problem!" Alex stuttered, he blushed from seeing her do that.

There was something about it that made his heart race slowly, he didn't know the feeling, but he enjoyed it quite a bit.

"And I don't know what my dream should be..." Melanie started off.

Alex took the opportunity to take out his Kalos map again from his bag, and he opened it up. He looked at it for a while longer before finding the perfect thing for her to go after.

"Here it is! Why not be a Pokémon Performer?" Alex suggested.

"What's that?" Melanie wondered about it.

"Says here that Pokémon Performers compete for Princess Keys, using beautiful moves from their Pokémon, and they focus on making dance routines, and contests too. It's kind of like Pokémon Contests almost... Why not go and aim for being Kalos Queen?" Alex explained what they were.

"That actually... Does sound like fun! I'll think about it. Thanks for suggesting that." Melanie grinned at the idea.

She did have the Pokémon to do those kind of things, so she thought about it a little further.

"I-I think I'll try that! It sounds like fun!" Melanie answered back happily.

"Good, you should aim for it then! I think you can do it, I know you can! Just like me, I'm trying to become the Champion." Alex smirked at her.

"Good, then we'll both have a dream to follow." Melanie giggled next.

Soon after that, both of them yawned together at the same time, feeling pretty tired already.

"Well, wanna get to bed then?" Melanie asked.

"I think I'll stay out here for a bit longer, I just need to think about what I'm going to do for my third gym battle." Alex answered.

"Well, alright then... Suit yourself! I'm off to bed okay? Goodnight Alex." She replied, getting up and walking back inside slowly.

"Goodnight Melanie." Alex smiled again.

She went off to bed and that left Alex sitting alone outside.

"She's... She's... She's awesome..." Alex blushed, mumbling those words to himself.

He stayed out there for a good fifteen minutes or so, and he started thinking about his next gym. He couldn't wait for the day tomorrow, along with many more adventures to come their way!


	11. Ch 11, Things Good and Bad!

_**Ch. 11, Things Good and Bad!**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

 ** _Play Song: (Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon OST - Noe Town Extended: watch?v=zqDVIe6q4YY)_**

"Is this better now Braixen?" Alex started groaning.

"Braix!" Braixen nodded her head, smiling from Alex.

The next day finally arrived, and it was morning! Alex woke up to an angry Braixen earlier this morning, roughly 5 am-ish. He ended up almost waking up to an Ember, but luckily his Braixen forgave him. He was brushing her tail, trying to make her look beautiful as ever.

"One last touch!" Alex focused on cleaning her pink bow.

He clipped the bow onto her forehead again, and then he just finished up grooming her fur.

"There we go! You look beautiful now, like always!" Alex smiled at his partner.

"Braix-en!" Braixen bowed to him and gave him a quick hug as a "thank you!"

"You're very welcome!" Alex returned the gesture.

He and his partner left the bathroom and they came back to the kitchen. It was only 6 in the morning, and the sun wasn't quite up yet.

"Well, what do you wanna do to pass the time girl?" Alex asked, a little bored already.

Braixen simply shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to do next. They heard footsteps approaching them and it was Melanie!

"Morning Melanie!" Alex greeted her.

She looked pretty woken up, especially at this time.

"Hmm?" Melanie made a sound with her voice.

"You're up really early this morning, are you that excited to leave for Geosenge Town?" He smiled upon seeing her.

"Hmmmm..." Melanie dragged on, showing a little bit of an attitude.

She didn't reply to his message, and she gave him a killer look right after.

"A-Are you okay?" Alex wondered.

He was a little concerned for her now, wondering if something was wrong with her. He stood up from the couch, and started approaching her.

"You look a little mad, did I do something?" Alex asked yet again.

"Hmph!" Melanie sighed angrily, she crossed her arms and turned her head away from him.

This made no sense to Alex, he didn't remember doing anything to her. Seeing her being mad at him made him a little upset. Just then... All of a sudden, Alex heard another set of footsteps walking into the room. He looked over to see if it was James, but what he saw completely threw him out of his world! It was Melanie!

"W-W-Wha-" Alex was overwhelmed, very confused to see two Melanie's in the same room!

"Morning Ale- AHH!" Melanie screamed in horror when she saw a clone of herself.

Now there were two of her! And they both looked exactly the same!

"W-What is this? Why am I seeing two of you!" Alex panicked.

"I-I don't know! You're not the only one seeing ME, too!" Melanie shouted.

Her attitude towards him was very different from before. She didn't look mad at Alex, so that made him confused about all of this.

"Hehehehe!" The other clone giggled evilly.

The clone of Melanie jumped up and did a quick flip in the air, once she landed back on the ground, a bright purple light surrounded her body, and then she transformed into a Zorua! Seeing the small Pokémon relieved both Alex and Melanie, they thought they were going crazy for a minute there.

"Zora!" Zorua smiled, wagging his tail in the process.

"You can transform into people too?!" Alex asked in shock.

"Ra!" Zorua nodded his head and started laughing at their reactions.

"You had me worried there for a second!" Melanie sighed.

"Yeah... I thought I was going crazy and seeing things. I didn't know you had the power to do that!" Alex agreed with her.

Zorua rolled his eyes and tackled Alex into a big hug, being very friendly, and affectionate too. He licked him gently before yawning loudly, showing that he was tired.

"I have to admit, you got me with that little trick!" Alex laughed with the Pokémon.

Zorua smiled back and giggled a little bit. He yawned once more and quickly knocked out to sleep because of how early it was. Melanie took the chance to sit next to Alex on the couch, just to keep him company.

"So..." Melanie spoke to him.

"So...?" Alex replied back.

"Sooo, I've been thinking about what you told me last night, and I finally made up my mind that I'm going to try becoming the next Kalos Queen." She started off a conversation.

"That's cool! I'm sure you'll have fun doing it. If you wanna go through with it, then I'll be with you the whole journey! Just like you are with mine." Alex grinned, thinking she should go for a dream.

"Thank you Alex." Melanie mumbled, she blushed lightly and didn't hide it from him.

He saw it on her face, and he found it cute for some reason. She tucked a strand of hair back like she did last night, and that made him blush in return. As soon as he was thinking about that, he felt her hand fall on top of his accidentally... Feeling contact, it made both of their faces darken in color. They both felt a little embarrassed, but they quickly took their hands off of one another's when they heard James walking into the room.

"*yawn!* Ahh! That was such a pleasant bed to sleep in!" James shouted, while stretching.

Alex stood up from the couch and took a few steps away from Melanie. He felt really embarrassed and decided to move onto a different subject to talk about.

"M-Morning! Yeah... Those beds were really comfortable." He started talking.

"Heck yeah they were, was Zorua awake earlier? He likes to wake up early sometimes." James replied back, he smiled when he saw Zorua sleeping in Alex's arms peacefully.

"I'll take that as a yes... If he's with you." He answered his own question.

"Yeah, we found out that he can turn into humans too! It made us thought that we were going crazy!" Alex pointed out.

"Zorua can do that, it's pretty amazing huh?" James chuckled.

He walked up to Alex and took Zorua away gently, he held him in his arms and looked around at the dining table.

"Sooo! We should go and eat breakfast! Who's cooking?" James laughed out loud, looking over to Melanie.

She was too busy daydreaming, and all she stared at was Alex.

"W-Wai- What! I'm not cooking breakfast James! I don't even know where to start." Melanie snapped out of it and quickly answered back.

"Okay... Then room service!" James suddenly yelled.

He ran to one of the couches that was next to a telephone, and he jumped onto it. As soon as he landed on the piece of furniture, he picked up the phone and dialed room service.

"Dude, try not to go too crazy alright?" Alex warned him, raising an eyebrow.

Seeing Alex being apart from Melanie somehow made her a little disappointed. She didn't know how to deal with it, and she was feeling a bit weird inside for some reason. Her heart was racing to the point where she could feel it by every beat, and she also felt embarrassed. Worst of all, was that the blush on her face wouldn't go away.

"Ugh! Just go away already." Melanie grunted, she covered her face with her hands, looking away from Alex.

The sun was slowly rising over the hotel's balcony, and it lit up most of the room. Alex decided to take a seat on a different couch that was across from Melanie. He took out the map of Kalos and took a quick look at it, reading more about cities and routes they would visit in the future. One location that gained his attention first was the Pokémon League. His partner and closest friend Braixen, stood beside him.

"Braix!" Braixen pointed her finger towards the Pokémon League's location on the map, and she looked at her Trainer right in the eye.

She gave him a very enthusiastic happy grin, and she knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"Someday, we'll get there girl. You and me all the way right?" Alex mumbled to her.

"Brai!" Braixen nodded in agreement, looking pumped up for it.

"I do wonder why Korrina is hurrying to leave for Shalour City. Hopefully nothing bad is going on with her, we already have those Aether guys to deal with as enough as it is." Alex mumbled once more.

Braixen simply shrugged her shoulders responding to his words, she looked confident to take on anything that came in her way!

"Okay! I ordered the food! They should be up here in no time!" James suddenly interrupted the two.

"Good... I hope you didn't go too crazy with the menu... That was a fast phone call." Alex mumbled nervously.

"Don't worry about it, I didn't order much, just a large chocolate cake for everyone here, as well as Poké-Pellets and a large breakfast for us too!" James happily announced out loud.

He looked over to Melanie and saw a blank expression on her face. He went over to sit by her and wondered if she was okay.

"Hey, you alright? You usually never have a serious face on you. You're always happy." James wondered.

"No, just tired... Are the Pokémon still asleep in that one bathroom?" Melanie asked back, yawning to show him her mood.

She didn't really wanna talk about anything else, she was too tired to even speak...

"Yeah, they're still asleep. They took a very long nap last night too. I bet being in that tub must've felt really nice." He smiled.

"Bra!" Braixen walked over and overheard his conversation.

She took a seat next to Melanie and wanted to know what they were talking about. Melanie noticed how nice and neat the fur was on Braixen's skin. She took the opportunity to pat her on the back and told her,

"You look nice this morning Braixen, guess Alex did a really good job on you huh?"

"Xen!" Braixen nodded happily, wagging her tail too.

She adjusted the bow on herself, and then she looked over to Alex, who was still looking at the map. She began thinking about her next gym battle with him, and she was hoping that she wouldn't have to go up against a water type. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when she heard small footsteps coming from her right side. It was Pancham, and he looked like he was dead! He was very tired, and he was dragging his body over to them.

"Paaa-!" Pancham yawned while groaning at the same time.

He finally made his way over to Melanie slowly, with his eyes halfway closed.

"Morning Panchy! Did you sleep well?" Melanie laughed at the way Pancham was acting.

He nodded his head slightly, while looking up at her. He refused to open his eyes fully, then he suddenly dropped down to the floor, falling asleep instantly.

"Oh, you!" Melanie rolled her eyes and giggled a bit before picking him up off of the floor.

She sat him over her lap and started petting his head gently. Seeing Pancham made her think about what being in Pokémon Competitions might be like,

"So Pancham and Vulpix huh... Maybe Bagon too. Hm... I wonder if they're dance competitions, or like the ones I've seen in Hoenn on T.V." Melanie thought about it even more.

She got up from the couch and walked over to the balcony. She opened the door and then took a step outside, watching the sun slowly rise beautifully over the large forest surrounding Brackish town. Lumiose City looked amazing during the morning, it was a huge city, and when she looked over to her left, she saw a few mountains that covered the landscape. They were surrounding another town, and the town had a few rocky pillars too around it. And then when she looked back to her front towards Lumiose from far away, she saw the large Aether Lab building. Seeing the building made her think about a lot of stuff that already happened to her.

"Lillie? Hope they're treating you right... I wish I could see Hoopa again too." Melanie sighed heavily.

She felt a little bit upset about Lillie, it wasn't right to leave her behind, but she had no choice right? She would've been stuck in the labs, probably working for Aether, or being turned into the police if she was caught stealing Vulpix away from them.

"Ugh... I never stole her from them, that Faba guy or whatever his name is needs to just let it go... If anything, he tried to steal Alex's Eevee! I'm not letting him come near us again or any of our other Pokémon!" Melanie swore, crossing her heart.

"Vull!" A certain Ice Type's adorable voice cracked while yawning at the same time.

Melanie felt something rubbing against her foot, and it felt kind of cold. She looked down and found Vulpix giving her those diamond shining sky blue eyes again, looking innocent like a Togepi would be like!

"Awh! Come here." Melanie couldn't help but awwh at the little icy fox.

She picked her up and held her two Pokémon together. Melanie sighed yet again, watching the sun rise slowly. It was quite beautiful, seeing the entire view being lit up by the heat of the sun. Mother Nature was truly magnificent, and she only focused on viewing it.

"Wow, that looks really beautiful...". Alex joined her, and stood right beside her.

"Y-Yeah it is! It's really nice." She spoke back.

Both of their hearts started racing again, and they didn't stare at each other for very long.

"So, we're leaving for Geosenge Town right after breakfast?" Melanie broke the silence between them.

"Yeah, there's a few other small locations and stuff on the way, we could check them out really quick if you're okay with it?" Alex replied, sounding less shy than he was before.

"Yeah! I'd love to! Your journey is my journey! I'm here till the end." She mumbled quietly.

"Heh, thanks for that! I just hope James hasn't ordered a ton of food..." He sighed in worry.

"Eh, that means more food for us right? Hopefully the Pokémon are enjoying themselves here with each other." She exclaimed.

"Well, one things for sure is that Eevee seems to be really happy around Vulpix." Alex whispered.

"You think they have a special bond together like your Braixen and my Pancham do?" Melanie giggled quietly.

"I dunno... Maybe, they've been playing around with each other a lot, as well as talking too." He replied.

"Your guess is as good as mine, I just hope tha-" Melanie spoke, but she was quickly cutoff...

"Come and eat everyone!" James screamed.

Upon hearing those exact words, both Melanie and Alex exchanged confused looks. They quickly came back inside and what they saw shocked them half to death! The dining table had lots of chairs surrounding all around it, with food everywhere set on the table.

"Room service was pretty quick! You have no idea how many actually came just a moment ago!" James laughed.

He closed the front door and walked back to his two friends, and as soon as he reached them, all of the Pokémon came running in from the bathroom. They surrounded the table and examined the food, as well as their food bowls too. There were tons of different kinds of food on the table! Foods like, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, pancakes, toast, heck... You name it! _(Except Bacon... ugh... So Good!)_ There was even a large chocolate cake that looked really delicious to eat! The cake was covered in a vanilla/chocolate mixed frosting, that had a few large cherries on top of it. It was enough to make everyone lick their mouths, feeling hungry. Vulpix jumped from Melanie's arms and joined the rest of the Pokémon, even Pancham woke up and immediately did the same thing.

"Wow, you actually ordered all of this?" Alex asked his enthusiastic looking friend.

"Yup! Now let's eat! The Pokémon can have a bit of the cake, and don't worry! They're not allergic or anything, they made sure that this cake is edible for Pokémon, as well as us too. They also have delicious pellets, and they also have the perfect taste depending on which type they are. I made sure that they put the bowls on the counter first, so that the Pokémon could choose where they get to sit." James explained it all.

"Um... Okay! I'll let you do that then, let's eat!" Melanie screamed in excitement.

Alex and Melanie took their seats next to each other, while James was busy over at the kitchen counter, serving various kinds of different colored pellets in organized bowls. He also took out a large orange juice pitcher, and set it on the table. After he finished doing that, he gave the Pokémon their food bowls, and they took their seat wherever. The only problem, was that Staravia and Fletchinder couldn't sit at the table due to their size, so they just sat on the counter nearby, enjoying their food. Now that everyone had what they wanted, things were finally good! And they would all enjoy a perfect breakfast together!

"Thank you James! All of this looks really good!" Melanie thanked him politely, and started looking at her plate filled with food.

"No problem, it's all going on Alex's bill anyways!" James chuckled silently, while taking his fork and stuffing a large waffle into his mouth.

"Wait wha-!"

"Okay everyone! Dig in!" James interrupted him again, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Upon hearing his words, all of the Pokémon began eating their own food, and after the first couple of bites, James smiled at himself when he saw them enjoying their food.

"Good, they like it..." He thought about it a little bit more.

"You owe me!" Alex gave James a killer look...

"Relax, Korrina paid for it and everything! It was just a joke, remember? It's her treat!" James calmed him down and was playing around with him.

Alex sighed in relief, and remembered that Korrina DID pay for all of their hotel room service. Now he had to find a way to get back at James, AND Zorua! He relaxed himself and ate his breakfast, enjoying the taste!

 _ **(Poké-Language!)**_

"Hey! This is actually good!" Vulpix cried happily.

She devoured her Icy blue cold pellets in front of Eevee and her bowl was already halfway down from where it originally was before!

"Hey slow down! You don't wanna choke yourself on food do you?" Bagon warned her.

"Oh... You're right! But it's just so good! I'm not used to this sorta stuff! What do you call these blue brown things?" Vulpix giggled slightly, taking a huge gulp and swallowing what was left in her mouth.

"Um... I think they're called Pellets? They sound funny and look weird!" Eevee laughed with her.

He wagged his tail and was sitting next to her, he had Normal Type Pellets, and they had a very sweet taste to them.

"Mm! So good! Alex is being really nice today!" Eevee kept on enjoying this moment.

"Yeah he is! Anyone notice the way Braixen looks today? Her fur looks, so clean and new! It's shiny too." Pancham joined the conversation.

"Everyone noticed her, she looks nice today. But when she battles, that's going to go away." Staravia spoke in from behind.

"Shut it!" Braixen yelled at them.

She was sitting across the table from the small group, and had a little trouble using a fork with her hands. The only thing that resulted from that were a few laughs and giggles here and there, which made her a little embarassed.

"Ughh! These are so annoying to get used to!" She complained, dropping the fork on her plate full of pellets.

"Why're you even using the metal thing to eat this stuff? They're eating human food, so those are used for them only." Pancham asked, looking over to the Trainers.

"I don't wanna get my brushed 'clean fur' dirty if I drop a pellet on myself, now do you think I wanna go through that?" Braixen gave him a sly attitude.

"You're going to be dirty by the time we make it to Geo whatever Town!" Pancham rolled his eyes.

"Well at least I can use my mouth still!" She giggled quietly.

She lowered her head towards the bowl, and started eating them with her mouth. She remembered eating like this all the time when she used to be a Fennekin.

"So you're going to be using your mouth instead? Won't you get your face dirty if you eat too fast like that?" Pancham talked back, raising his eyebrow.

"I said shut it, I'm hungry! So my belly wants me to eat!" Braixen replied.

She ignored him and kept on picking up the pellets with her mouth, making him shut up instantly. Everyone else around them started giggling at the two, meanwhile Vulpix and Eevee started eating quickly. Eventually, they finished their bowls at the same time, and they waited patiently for everyone else to finish.

 ** _A couple of minutes later..._**

"Ugh..." Eevee groaned in annoyance.

He slouched his back and rested his head on the table, looking very bored...

"What's wrong Eevee?" Vulpix wondered, concerned about him.

"Nothing, I'm just a little tired and bored..." He replied.

"Well... You never showed me outside the balcony yet, that'd be a lot of fun!" She sugggested.

A sudden smile appeared on his face, hearing that idea made his heart skip a beat! He got back up quickly and nodded his head towards her. He went ahead and grabbed her paw, and he proceeded to jump off the chair.

"O-Oh!" Vulpix gasped quietly.

She blushed heavily from the contact, and she soon followed after him. Once they were off of their chairs, Eevee led both of them towards the balcony door.

"H-His paw is so... Warm! It feels nice..." Vulpix stuttered to herself.

Her heart started pounding quickly, and she refused to let go of his paw. Once they finally got to the door, Eevee pushed it open gently and walked his way outside.

"Close your eyes!" Eevee whispered.

She did what he told her to do, not knowing what to expect next... He left her hanging, curiously.

"O-Okay!" Vulpix mumbled.

As soon as she felt the gentle breeze flowing over her, the air outside felt warm to her skin. She enjoyed it a lot, and breathed in the fresh air gently.

"Okay, you can open them now!" Eevee said.

"Okay!" She replied.

She opened her eyes suddenly, and gasped at what she saw in her view. The sun was rising, and it lit up the entire forest. Even the cities that were far away, you could see them from the balcony!

"Woooww!" She was amazed from the beauty.

"You like it?" Eevee asked, wagging his tail and blushing lightly.

"Eevee... It's, Beautifulll! I love it!" She mumbled slightly.

"I'm glad you do! I love it too because it definitely reminds me of something else that's b-beautiful." He stuttered, then he looked at her next.

Vulpix suddenly felt the blood rushing up to her face upon hearing that, she didn't know wether or not he was referring to her.

"I-Is he talking about _m-me_?" She thought.

She didn't have any words, other than showing him the huge blush. But, she didn't feel alone when she saw his blush darkening a bit too. Their paws were still connected, and neither spoke a word to one another. They simply just sat there in silence, staring at each other awkwardly, and enjoying the view that was there.

 ** _Meanwhile..._**

 ** _Play Song: (Pokemon Sun & Moon OST Aether Paradise 2 Theme Extended: _****_watch?v=GLX7n-WDBOw &t=237s)_**

"You've got to be kidding me?! None of you have found it yet!?" Faba screamed in rage.

He was leading the rest of the Aether Workers who were all having their daily morning meeting. It was a huge room, with lots of workers and scientists sitting in chairs, and Faba was the only one with a microphone so that everybody could hear his loud screams.

"Why hasn't anyone _here,_ found a simple clue? Just one little thing would make my day better! Our admins are the only ones doing work out there!" Faba kept on yelling at them.

"Well actually sir! How're we suppose to know where they are? That girl vanished right out of here from that mysterious ring!" One worker argued.

"Doesn't matter! She couldn't have transported away that far, the only thing I care about is getting Vulpix back to safe hands. Otherwise, if President Lusamine finds out her Vulpix was stolen, then we'll ALL have a long conversation to talk about with her. And we don't want that... Now do we?" Faba gave a point to back himself up.

All of the workers nodded their heads in agreement, while none of them spoke a word, some even gulped in fear for some reason.

"You're never going to find them, just give it up!" Lillie joined in.

She was standing right behind Faba, along with two Aether guards beside her. Faba turned around, not knowing that she was behind him, and he gave her an evil smirk next.

"You're not in this! If we get caught, then I'll blame it all on you!" He warned her.

"Don't hope that you can find that innocent Vulpix anytime soon!" Lillie tried to change his mind.

"Hah! I'll make sure we find it sometime today! Your little Eevee friend is mine too, just so you know!" He turned back around to face the workers, not daring to look back to her.

"You're wrong on that! You can't take her Eevee, he's HER Pokémon, not yours Faba!" Lillie yelled.

"Hmph, we'll see about that... If we capture her that is... Then I'll force her to give me the Eevee. Those kind of Pokémon are rare, our President will greatly appreciate that." Faba replied.

"No! You can't do that!" Lillie screamed soon after.

"Yes I can! How do you think I got Cosmog back from you? You're lucky I didn't tell your mother that you stole him yet..." He smiled back at her.

"Faba, sir!" A shout came towards him.

A pair of doors opened from the entrance to the large room, and an Aether Admin walked right into the meeting.

"Ah, Admin Mark? What brings you here?" Faba greeted, taking a few steps to him.

When he finally reached him, Mark gave him a serious look. He was wearing a different colored uniform then the others beside him. He had the same white color on him, but he was wearing large goggles, like Faba's almost, except they were blue.

"Faba, I may have found out where the girl is hiding." Mark started speaking.

Hearing that put an evil smile on Faba, he knew what he had to do next...

"Everyone! This time we won't let her get away, follow us and get your stuff ready!" He commanded.

He turned back to look at Lillie, and saw the worried expression on her face.

"This time... It won't happen again... I will make sure of it... For Lusamine!" Faba thought.

 _ **Back to it...**_

 _ **Play Song: (Pokemon Sun & Moon OST - Hau'oli City (Night) Extended: **_**_watch?v=2WOZ4DAjhEE)_**

"I've never seen a sunrise before! Thanks for showing me this." Vulpix thanked Eevee, feeling embarassed just by looking at him.

"No problem! I'll show you more things like this! I promise!" Eevee crossed his heart with his paw.

When he finished doing that, he took the opportunity to touch her paws again, hoping that she wouldn't flinch or take it the wrong way or anything... As soon as his made contact with hers, he looked at her and saw another small blush forming on her snow-white beautiful face! She returned the gesture, and grasped his paw into hers, smiling at him happily.

"I-I'm Sor-" Eevee started talking again, he had a feeling as if she didn't like it at all!

"Sshh! Let's just enjoy this amazing view!" Vulpix replied back, cutting him off.

He listened to what she told him to do, and he just looked off into the sun, enjoying his time with her. It wasn't too long until she scooted a bit closer to sit directly next to him, just inches apart from touching his body. She decided to rest her head onto the scruffy fur around his neck, and she eventually laid down... Feeling comfortable touching him!

"Mmm, I-I never knew your little scarf-thing was so warm!" She started giggling adorably.

"Well, I guess it is... That's probably why I never feel chilly at night around my neck!" he laughed with her.

He smiled from the contact he was receiving, and couldn't help but think about her a little more. He liked everything about her! The way she looked always made a blush form on his face, the cloudy swirls on her head and tail made her look cute. As well as her icy sparkling baby blue eyes, and even her beautiful looking face! Sure, he felt a little cold coming from her, but it felt really nice in a way!

"W-Wow! How did I happen to meet _someone_ _like you_... I must be the luckiest Eevee in the world!" He started grinning to himself.

He yawned quietly and started feeling a little sleepy, then he made her catch the disease! He heard her voice cracking cutely while she was yawning from him. Now they were both feeling very tired, and this felt like the perfect time for a quick nap. Both of the two lovebirds yawned once again before closing their eyes, falling asleep peacefully...

 ** _Back to a certain group..._**

"Awwh! Look at them together! They look so cute!" Braixen giggled to herself, staring outside of the window at the two.

"Yeah, I think Eevee has a crush noowww! He's letting her lay on him, that's a sign!" Pancham agreed with his best friend.

"Wait, what!?" Staravia gasped in shock.

She never expected this, nor did anyone else...

"Well yeah, I mean... They've been spending a lot of time with each other since they met. Haven't you noticed it?" Braixen asked in surprise.

"It's kind of hard to see outside from those balls that we're put in!" Staravia complained.

"At least you weren't disguised like Zorua here, his whole journey with us pretty much." Braixen replied.

"You have NO idea how good it feels to finally be in my normal form..." Zorua laughed.

Everyone else overheard their conversation, and they looked outside the balcony window, seeing Eevee and Vulpix laying on top of each other.

"Now that you mention it, they do spend a lot of time together..." Staravia noticed.

"Should we go and play a prank on them?" Zorua chuckled evilly, wagging his tail.

"Maybe later... I'm kind of full right now from all of these pellets. Hey! What're those things anyways?" Pancham suddenly shouted to everyone, pointing his finger towards a small pancake on a large plate.

Melanie noticed Pancham pointing towards the plate, and she smiled to herself, knowing exactly what he wanted.

"You want one Pancham?" She asked him.

"Yes please!" Pancham yelled back, nodding his head furiously.

"Alright, just a small little piece though okay?" Melanie spoke back.

She ripped off a small piece from the pancake with her fork, then she placed it in Pancham's bowl. Once she did that, she started looking for the syrup and it was right in front of Braixen.

"Hey Braixen, could you please pass me the syrup?" Melanie asked politely.

"Ye-... Hey what is this bottle filled with?" The fire-fox tilted her head slightly and grabbed the bottle, examining it next.

She opened the cap on the lid, and wondered if it was a special drink of some kind. She poured the sticky liquid into her mouth, and stopped once her mouth was semi-full. Once she did that, she swallowed the syrup and tasted it for the very first time!

"O-Oh! M-My!" She started stuttering upon tasting it.

The taste was very sweet, much to her liking... And it slid down pretty easily, giving her taste buds a very flavor-able taste!

"Good huh?" Alex started laughing at his partner's expression.

"YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS! THIS IS SOOO DELICIOUS!" Braixen screamed loudly.

You could probably hear her scream from one side of the region to the next, it was pretty loud!

"Okay! Okay! Sssshhh! People are still sleeping here! Above and below us!" Alex quickly reacted to her sudden emotion.

She looked at him and gave him a short frown, giving it to Melanie next... She looked over to Eevee and Vulpix to see if she woke them up, and surprisingly... They were still fast-asleep!

"Wow, was it really that loud?" She mumbled.

"YES! You made my ears ring! They're still ringing slightly, and I'm right next to you!" Pancham shouted at her, covering his ears.

"Whoops, sorry..." Braixen apologized, laughing at him.

She saw her other friends staring at her awkwardly, making her feel a little embarassed. She noticed Melanie pouring the syrup onto Pancham's pancake, and it made her stomach growl again.

"So that's what it's used for? On those brown, disk looking things?" She thought.

She picked up the pancake and fed it to Pancham, and once he started chewing on it, Braixen could tell that Pancham was already in love with the pancake!

"You're right! THAT IS GOOD!" Pancham shouted happily.

"Hey give us one too!" Zorua yelled.

"Yeah!" everyone else started speaking at the same time.

James looked at Alex, nervous about what was going to come next...

"Call room service and tell them to bring us more pancakes and syrup, cause they're not full yet!" Alex whispered.

"Y-Yeah! I'm on it!" James replied back suddenly, he started dashing for the phone, and he dialed room service!

 ** _Meanwhile..._**

"Aaah!" Eevee woke up slowly from his nap, he stretched his arms out and yawned loudly.

He felt chilly all around, and he smiled to himself!

"She's still here with me!" He thought.

He kept his eyes closed and laid back down, still feeling the cold air around his body. When he came to his senses, he opened his eyes slowly and looked around... However, once he opened his eyes, all he saw was darkness everywhere! It was pitch black! and he couldn't see anything at all!

"W-Wha-What's going on? Why can't I see anything? Vulpix, are you there?" He panicked, and his heart started to race in fear.

"I'm right here silly!" A familiar voice called upon him.

"Vulpix?" Eevee asked again.

He blinked a couple of times before seeing blurs now, his vision was starting to become clearer! Soon, his vision came back to normal, and he found himself laying down in a large comfortable and warm nest! The nest was securely hidden from predators, and there were also very tall large trees overlooking him! He was in a large forest

"Woah! Where am I?" He mumbled.

He turned around and saw Vulpix walking closer to him, still feeling confused about what was going on.

"We're home honey! You were asleep for quite a while!" She giggled at him.

"What?" Eevee gasped at the nickname she called him.

"D-Did you just call me..." He stuttered.

"Of course I did honey! Do you want anything for breakfast? I can make you anything that's good!" Vulpix wagged her tail happily.

He blushed from being called that! That nickname was usually reserved for... Well, mates! He had no idea how he got there, or where his other friends went off to.

"Eevee? Are you okay?" Vulpix wondered.

He didn't reply back, and he just left her hanging. He was still thinking about why he was there with her, and why she called him honey. He suddenly snapped back to reality when he heard her scream!

"AAAHH!" She screamed in horror!

He regained his focus, and saw her being picked up by a tall humanoid figure! The figure was dressed in white, and he instantly recognized who the person was! It was Faba!

"Ahaha! You're finally mine again! It took forever to capture you, you're coming back to the lab!" He shouted.

"N-No! Eevee! H-He-Help me! P-Please!" Vulpix cried for help, struggling to escape from Faba's arms.

"Wait! Come back! Don't take her from me!" Eevee screamed for Vulpix.

He started running towards Faba, and he was getting ready to pounce him, waiting for the right moment to attack! He leaped towards Faba, and he braced himself for the impact! However... Faba knew he was going to try something, so he turned around and kicked Eevee directly in the chest.

"G-Gahh'aaa!" Eevee gasped in pain, he lost all of his breath, and fell to the floor, feeling defeated.

"Don't try and stop me! You're only going to make it worse for yourself!" Faba replied.

He started walking a little further away from Eevee, with Vulpix still crying for help!

"Eeveeeee! Help!" She screamed.

"No! No! No way this is happening now! This can't be real!" Eevee started panicking a lot more.

He looked at where Faba went, and didn't see him anymore! He felt embarassed, tired, cold, hungry, and worst of all... Defeated!

"Vulpix! Nooooooo!" Eevee called out for her.

There were no signs of Faba, and this made Eevee feel a whole lot worse.

"I-I... I failed to protect you!" He whispered.

A tear escaped from his eye, and his heart was beating rapidly. He laid down on the grass, and closed his eyes... Blacking out!

 ** _Minutes later..._**

After waiting a couple of minutes, Eevee woke back up again! And he found himself waking up from his nap on the balcony with Vulpix! He looked beside him quickly to see if she was there, and sure enough! She was still sleeping against him, which made him happy again!

"Oh! Thank Arceus, it was just a dream!" Eevee sighed in relief.

He heard her soft quiet snoring, it sounded really cute, and he couldn't help but blush from that.

"Urrr-" She started waking up again.

She opened her eyes slowly, blinking eventually... And then she stretched her legs out. Once she finished doing that, she looked up to Eevee, and smiled up when she saw him.

"H-Hey!" He greeted, grinning happily to see her.

"Hi!" She smiled back.

They were still touching each other, and neither wanted to let go either! The blushes on their faces were pink in color, and they didn't lose eye contact.

"How did you sleep?" He asked, trying to start a conversation so that it wouldn't be awkward.

"It's definitely better than back at that other scary place I was at! How was yours?" She replied.

He thought about that question for a while, remembering the dream he had about her.

"S-She was my m-mate?" Eevee stuttered, embarassed by himself.

"Huh?" Vulpix tilted her head, confused by what he said.

She didn't quite hear what he said, because he was too quiet...

"O-Oh um nothing! Just ignore it... D-Do you wanna head back in?" Eevee offered.

"Sure!" She said back, happily towards him.

He went ahead and got up from the floor, then he offered to help her up with his paw. She gladly took it and blushed harder from holding his paw again. He led her back into the hotel room, and Vulpix followed soon after. When they got back inside, they saw their friends already packed up and ready to leave!

"Oh! We're already leaving huh?" Eevee thought to himself.

"Hey guys! You're finally awake!" Alex smiled at the duo.

"Yeah!" Eevee greeted back.

The three Trainers watched them and noticed that they were holding each other's paws.

"Awwh! Look at them! They're so cute!" Melanie couldn't help but squeal at them.

Eevee and Vulpix let go of each other, and they looked away, blushing darkly in color. It was very noticeable, and everyone could tell what it meant too!

"Heh! Hah! Eevee's got a gir-" Zorua started to sing, but he was quickly cutoff from Braixen shutting his mouth up with a pink Poké-Puff.

"Don't ruin it for him! I'll give you more Puffs if you don't say that word, okay?" Braixen whispered kindly.

It was enough for Zorua to shut up and eat the Puff in his mouth. He giggled and nodded his head towards her, enjoying the treat quite a lot!

"Fine!" He replied back, mumbling from chewing the treat.

"You guys ready to head out? We're going to travel to Geosenge Town next, you guys aren't hungry right?" Alex asked everyone else around him.

"Yeah!" Everyone else spoke at the same time.

"Good, let's go!" Alex smiled at his friends.

Melanie proceeded to pick up Eevee and Vulpix into her arms, so that they could sit beside each other, and that was what Eevee was hoping she would do! Once she did that, she followed James and Alex to the elevator, and before they left, they made sure that the hotel room was exactly the way it looked like when they arrived yesterday.

"Everyone got everything? Nothing left behind right?" James asked.

"Yeah dude, everyone's got everything. Let's head out! I can't wait to see what Geosenge Town will be like!" Alex answered.

James grinned, and pressed the 'Lobby' button on the elevator's panel. The doors closed, and the elevator started bringing them down to the main floor of the hotel. Alex took the chance to open up the Kalos map, and he read some info on the next town.

"You guys liked that chocolate cake huh? It was to die for!" Alex laughed.

Saying that made Vulpix and Eevee shocked! They knew that they were eating breakfast, but they missed out on eating the chocolate cake!

"What!? W-We missed the cake!" Eevee groaned.

Braixen heard him and walked over to the other side of Melanie, then she bent down and whispered into his ear saying,

"Don't worry, I made sure that they packed two big slices for you and Vulpix! Later on, you can give her the slice yourself, that way she'll know it came from you directly!"

She smiled at him and he looked back to her, licking his lips in reply, it made her giggle from him doing that, and she could tell that he couldn't wait to try it out!

"Thank you so much! I can't wait!" He shouted happily.

He gave her a quick hug, appreciating what she did for him!

"No problem! Anyways, I'll leave you and your 'friend' here alone." Braixen exclaimed, returning the gester, then she walked off back to Alex so that she could take a quick look at the map as well.

"Hey Vulpix?" Eevee asked nervously, gazing at her beautiful eyes.

"Yes?" She asked innocently.

The sparkle in her eyes was shining again, and he couldn't handle blushing in front of her. He was doing that quite a lot, and he didn't know how to control it. He took a deep breath and asked,

"Do you remember when Alex said that this town was known best for it's chocolate cake?"

"Y-Yeah, I think I remember?" Vulpix tried to remember Alex saying that back in the bushes they were in yesterday.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is... But I managed to get two pieces for the both of us to try it out!" He offered.

He felt a little bad that he told her that he was the one who got it, when it was Braixen instead! He knew that he owed her for it too...

"You did?! It sounds tasty to try!" She beamed in joy, giving him the happiest smile she could make.

"Yeah! Do you wanna try it with me later on?" He asked again.

"Sure! I've never had whatever that's called, cake? But I'll try it with you anyways!" She replied.

"Awesome!" He thought in his head.

He couldn't wait for it anymore! He was looking forward to trying cake with her for the first time! As soon as he was thinking about that a little longer, he was interrupted from Alex telling everyone about Geosenge Town.

"Map says here that Geosenge Town is a rural town located in the western part of the region. It's well known for it's unusual rock structures which are rumored to have mysterious powers?" Alex explained it all.

He was intrigued by the 'mysterious powers' part, and he started wondering what was so special about the town!

"Mysterious powers huh? That should be cool to check out, right Zorua?" James looked up at his partner laying on his head.

Zorua was already taking a nap on top of him, so he didn't hear James whatsoever...

"Someone's tired!" Melanie joked around.

"You can say that again... *Sigh* Hey Alex, what's after Geosenge Town?" James wondered.

"We should leave it a surprise, isn't that the whole point of an adventure? Surprises are the best!" Alex laughed at his comment.

"Fine... Let's leave it a surprise! As long as we don't have to deal with any Aether, then I'm cool with it!" James said.

"Mhm!" Melanie nodded her head, agreeing with him.

She noticed Alex staring at her again, like he usually did... And she didn't mind it at all, she had a weird feeling inside of her that she didn't quite understand yet. It was a warm fuzzy feeling in her heart, and she felt herself blushing when she stared back at him. She decided not to say a word, but their eye's never left each other for a second. Both of them were simply just staring at one another, not losing any eye contact, and they had very light blushes on their faces. James and Braixen quickly caught on to their two friends, and they felt a little suspicious about it.

"Hmm..." James examined them.

He also noticed Vulpix and Eevee doing that sometimes too, and he knew he was onto something! James took a few steps closer to Braixen, and whispered in her ear.

"Hmm... You think they have a thing for each other? Even Vulpix and Eevee too?" He mumbled quietly.

Braixen nodded her head, saying 'yes' to his question, and she looked back at the elevator doors once she heard a 'beep' sound. The doors opened suddenly, and it was enough to interrupt the moment between them.

"Alright, let's go guys!" James started to talk again.

The elevator took them back to the main floor, the lobby, And everyone came back to reality again! James led the group outside of the elevator, and there were barely any people inside. Just the service desk people, as well as other's just minding their own business, and doing their own thing.

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

"Alex!" A voice called.

Hearing the voice made Alex feel happy all of a sudden, he recognized it clearly, and he was glad to see who it was! The voice belonged to no one else, other than Professor Sycamore!

"Professor Sycamore!" Alex greeted happily.

He ran up to the Professor who was standing at the center of the lobby, and he looked like he was in a good mood this morning!

"How're you Alex? It's been a couple of days since I've last seen you!" Sycamore asked, politely.

"I've been doing really good! I made a couple of new friends, and I've also got new Pokémon on my team." Alex replied, smiling back at Melanie and James.

They followed him, making their way to greet the Professor.

"Hi! My names Melanie!" Melanie greeted, standing behind shyly.

"And I'm James!" James joined in.

The Professor noticed their Pokémon that were being carried, and he was quite surprised when he saw them. But the one Pokémon that interested him the most was Vulpix, because of her appearance.

"What's this?" The Professor asked.

He walked up to Melanie and wanted to take a closer look at the adorable Ice Fox, and he took out a Pokédex. But it didn't appear like the one Alex had, it was colored gray, and it looked a lot larger than Alex's.

"What kind of Pokédex is that?" Alex wondered, he was curious about the large device.

"it's a National Pokédex, it can scan any Pokémon from around the world, it's a very helpful tool when it comes to helping me study Pokémon!" Sycamore gladly answered his question.

He scanned Vulpix and the Pokédex started putting her in the database! Once it finished doing that, it began to talk out loud!

"Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon! This Vulpix is a very special rare breed because it originally comes from a faraway region, Alola! Alolan Pokémon only exist in the Alola Region, and this Vulpix is an Ice Type! It can exhale air colder than -58 degrees Fahrenheit, and elderly people in Alola call this Pokémon by an older name-Keokeo! In hot weather, this Pokémon can make ice shards with it's six tails, and it also sprays them around itself so that it can cool down! This Vulpix is a newly hatched female, and it's moves are... Powder Snow, Ice Shard, Aurora Beam, and Icy Wind!"

"Woah, so that's what she can do?" James was very surprised from the information.

"Yeah, it sounds like she's a really awesome Pokémon to have!" Alex agreed.

"You see kids, I've never seen an Alolan Pokémon before, I've heard about them a lot, but seeing them in Kalos is very rare. They don't exist in this region, and a lot of normal Pokémon have Alolan forms too. Like this Vulpix for example, they're normally Fire Types, and this one here is a very special Vulpix!" Sycamore pointed out.

He went ahead and started rubbing Vulpix on her cold head gently, feeling the temperature from it. It was cold and chilly, but it felt very nice to him.

"Vulll! Pii!" Vulpix giggled at the affection, she blushed lightly and a small smile formed on her face.

She wagged her tail slowly, and closed her eyes, enjoying the attention she was getting.

"Take good care of this Vulpix you hear? It looks like a really happy and gentle Pokémon! Innocent too." He told Melanie.

"I will!" She responded, sounding honest about her promise.

"And what about my Zorua?" James wanted to ask.

"Zor?" A certain little Pokémon yawned and woke up from his small nap...

Sycamore turned to look at James, and he completely forgot about Zorua. He was paying more attention to Vulpix, that he didn't even realize there was a Zorua too!

"You guys have really rare Pokémon!" The Professor told them all.

"We've been told that a few times..." Alex said.

"Zorua are very rare Pokémon too, they exist in Hoenn, as well as parts of the Unova Region too. I'm actually really surprised! You three probably all have rare Pokémon that have great potential, don't ever forget that! And Alex, how're your Gym Badges going?" Sycamore asked again.

Alex took out his Gym Badge case from his bag, and opened it up, revealing the Gym Badges he collected so far on his journey. The badges were very shiny, and they looked really clean too. He only had two right now, but he knew that he would get more in the future!

"Right now I only have two, I got the second Badge from Grant, and the next Gym is in Shalour City, so I'm going to be training really hard for that third Gym Badge!" Alex responded back confidently.

"That's really great! I just came here to visit, A friend of mines told me you were here, so I took a helicopter here along with another good friend I know. I'd like you to meet her, here... Follow me!" Sycamore commanded.

He led the group towards one of the corner's of the lobby, which were filled with couches, seats, tables, etc. It looked really cozy! None of them had no idea what to expect, so they just followed along anyways. Once they reached one of the couches, they spotted two adult-like people sitting, having a conversation with each other. One of the adults was a lady who had a lot of white colored clothing on. She was carrying a small pink bag in her arms, and she had brownish hair, along with the same colored blue eyes, just like Vulpix's eyes. Her clothes were small, and she was wearing a white jacket and it had golden colored ring plates on the arms. It looked like Aether's uniforms, which worried Melanie.

"Please don't tell me SHE'S the Aether's President!" Melanie mumbled.

"Don't worry, if she is... I'll back you up no matter what happens!" Alex whispered to her, hearing her mumbled voice.

"Yeah, we're all in this together! We're keeping Vulpix weather she likes it or not." James joined in.

"But what if I did steal it? I was only trying to rescue it from the labs..." Melanie sighed, feeling worried about this.

"Like I said, Don't worry! We got this." Alex replied.

They kept following Sycamore, while looking at the other adult, who was a guy. He looked like a serious man, and his hair was colored orange, along with his beard too. He was wearing a black fancy looking suit, and he looked like he meant business, just like the lady.

"Was _this_ the kid you were talking about?" The lady smiled happily, looking at The Professor, then back to Alex, and his friends.

"Yeah, kids got a lot of spirit and potential about being a Trainer! He's going to go a long way, along with his friends too. I can feel it!" Sycamore responded.

Alex and his friends took a seat on one of the large couches, and all three of them felt nervous about her. They didn't know whether or not she was part of Aether.

"Hello guys! Pleased to meet you! I'm Diantha." Diantha greeted herself to the kids.

"I'm Alex, this is Melanie, and that's James!" Alex introduced himself soon after, speaking a little quickly.

Diantha noticed how scared they looked, and she had a bit of concern towards them.

"Don't be afraid! I don't mean any harm." She spoke sweetly, in a very nice way.

"You see Alex, she's also the Champion of Kalos!" Sycamore exclaimed.

"Woah!" Alex gasped in excitement after hearing that word.

"SHE IS?" Both James and Melanie asked in surprise.

"Yes I am, sorry if I looked a little intimidating back there when I saw you walking towards us. Right Lysandre?" Diantha chuckled.

She lightly elbowed Lysandre next to her, and he gave her a serious look.

"Hmph.." He simply looked away and focused on another thing.

"H-He looks scary!" Melanie whispered to her two companions.

"I know! He looks suspicious though..." James agreed with her.

"Well what do yo-" Alex whispered, but Diantha cut him off.

"This here's Lysandre, very friendly guy, usually quiet... But he's like this!" Diantha started laughing.

She didn't seem very bad to them, she looked like a really positive happy person!

"Yes, it's nice to meet you three." Lysandre mumbled to himself, closing his eyes and looking to the floor.

"Why're you like this? Always thinking about work huh? I've never seen you smile before!" Diantha teased him.

"I try and focus on other important things, like trying to make this world better for the Pokémon." Lysandre growled at her.

He started speaking to the group by saying,

"My apologies for not introducing myself earlier, I'm Lysandre."

"Nice to meet you sir!" Melanie greeted back politely.

She was trying to make a good first impression, and she managed to form a small smirk appear on his face, which made her happy!

"This here's Vulpix!" She continued.

"Vwu!" Vulpix giggled cutely.

Lysandre opened his eyes and didn't notice the Pokémon on them. Eevee jumped from Melanie's arms, and he went over to sit on Alex's lap, wagging his tail.

"Bwee! Ee!" Eevee waved his paw at him.

"This is Eevee!" Alex smiled at the small Evolution Pokémon.

"Ra!" Zorua did the same and winked at Lysandre, giggling silently.

"Hm! A Zorua, an Eevee, and a Vulpix too? Very rare Pokémon indeed." Lysandre chuckled.

"Brai!" Braixen joined in and popped up behind Alex's spot.

"And a Braixen too, you kids are going to go far. Keep them safe from dangerous people, you hear?" Lysandre smiled at them all.

"We will! We're all covering each other's backs." Alex replied.

"Good, keep that promise close. It'll strengthen your bond as friends together." Lysandre told them.

He looked at a small device that was on his wrist, and it started beeping silently. Everyone noticed it flashing red, and Lysandre immediately got up.

"Hm... Work?" Diantha wondered.

"Yes, it's something important. Unfortunately I have to go, it was a pleasure meeting you kids though. Remember that promise." Lysandre waved a small goodbye, and then he started walking out the lobby's main entrance.

Once he left, Diantha got up soon after, and then she waved goodbye as well.

"You're leaving too already?" Alex asked.

He had so many questions to ask her, considering she was the Champion...

"I'll have to battle her someday... She must be crazy strong..." He thought.

Even Braixen was thinking about the same thing too. They watched as she started following after Lysandre.

"Yes, it was very nice meeting you all. And Alex, before I forget..." She left him hanging.

She opened the door, and then walked out before finishing her sentence by saying,

"Keep earning those badges!"

Hearing that made Alex's heart pound for a few seconds. He felt excited, and he immediately wanted to head for Shalour City!

"I don't wanna hold you three up, go and head for Shalour City. I'll just remain here and meet you guys back at Lumiose City! Be sure to stop by my lab when you reach the city, I just might have a special gift to give to you all when you return!" Sycamore waved and started heading to the Service Desk.

"Okay Professor! It was nice seeing you, see you later!" Alex shouted.

"They seemed like nice people!" James smiled.

"Yeah, I was worried about that lady being related to Aether. I thought she was their leader, or something..." Melanie sighed in relief.

"Well, let's hurry and leave before any of those Aether guys show up for you. They're probably out looking for you right now. The sooner we leave this area, the safer it'll be when we reach Geosenge Town." Alex explained.

"How much left do we have to go?" Melanie asked, worried a bit by what he said.

"Not much, just about a mile or so left to go for Route 10, then we'll reach Geosenge. You guys are ready right?" Alex asked another question back.

"Yeah, Zorua return!" James yelled.

He took out a Pokéball and returned Zorua back into it, then he put it away just to keep him safe from anything else.

"Alright, let's head out." Alex smiled at his close friends.

He led them out of the lobby and they were outside of the building. They were ready to get to Geosenge Town right away, so they wouldn't have to deal with Aether. It was clear, and nobody was outside, considering how early it was.

 _ **But it was at that very moment...**_

 _ **Where the Earth...**_

 _ **Stopped moving for Melanie...**_

"Hey! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" A voice shouted at them.

They looked over to where the voice came from, and they saw two people that they didn't want to see... Faba, and Mark.


	12. Ch 12, A Future Of Hope!

**_Ch. 12, A Future Of Hope!_**

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

 _ **Play Song: (Sun and Moon Battle! Aether Foundation Employee: watch?v=VJeZyzJjM8I)**_

"Will you guys please leave us alone! Vulpix doesn't deserve to go back with you guys!" Melanie screamed at the two older admins.

She and her friends were being confronted by Faba and Mark, a pair that she feared of seeing ever again!

"Listen little girl, you DON'T, know what you're getting into! You either make things worse for you, or you make peace between us, and we'll never disturb you ever again!" Faba yelled back.

"You think I'll let you take Vulpix? No way!" Melanie argued with him.

She held Vulpix close, and tightly too. She looked down and saw Vulpix shaking in fear, as well as her friends beside her.

"Give us the Vulpix, and the Eevee! Right now! Or else we'll make you regret it!" Mark joined in.

Hearing that caused Alex to break! He certainly wasn't going to let that happen! He stepped in front of Melanie, holding onto Eevee in his arms.

"I don't know who you guys think you are, but I for one am not going to let you take Vulpix! And this Eevee is mine, I own him officially. You don't have the right to take him away." Alex stepped in.

"Well, if you'll be like that... Then we have no choice." Faba groaned in annoyance.

He took out a Pokéball from the belt on his lab coat on the waist area, and he gave them a very serious intimidating face.

"If I can't have the Eevee, then that's fine... But I'm not going to allow you weakling kids to keep Vulpix forever, prepare for your doom!" He shouted angrily.

He and Mark beside him, both had Pokéball in their hands. They were ready to throw it into the air and that's when Alex looked over to James.

"Melanie, stay behind us..." Alex whispered to her.

"You ready to take them on?" James asked.

"Yeah, let's teach these Aether freaks a lesson!" Alex smiled at him.

He motioned Braixen with his head to get into the battle, and she gladly responded back by jumping right in front of him, pulling out her stick in the process, and looking ready to battle!

"Come on out Zorua!" James announced, throwing out a dark colored Pokéball.

He wasn't too worried about Zorua being seen, because his friends were by his side. Zorua was his Pokémon too, so even if they wanted it... He had a right to keep him.

"Zora!" Zorua cried, flipping out of his ball.

He looked at the two strangers in front of him, and immediately knew what was going on. He could tell they were evil individuals, so he wasn't going to let James down.

"If that's how you're going to play, THEN LET'S PLAY!" Faba shouted, sounding like a total maniac.

He threw his Pokéball into the air, and Mark did the same thing. They released their Pokémon, which were a Slowbrow, and an Alolan Golem! Pretty soon... They all knew that this battle was going to be very important to win...

"Hope you win this fight..." Melanie whispered to her two friends, staying close behind them.

"Don't worry, we will, right James?" Alex asked.

"Right!" James nodded, smirking back at him.

 _ **Battle!: Alex and James vs. Chief Executive Branch Faba and Aether Admin Mark!**_

"A Slowbro, and a Golem huh?" Alex pointed out.

"Yeah, but that Golem doesn't look like how it should be." James noticed the Golem's appearance.

"That's because it's from Alola, now prepare for defeat!" Mark yelled at the two.

"There's no way we're losing to you freaks! Braixen, Psybeam let's go! Hit it on Golem!" Alex commanded.

"Br-Braaii-Xen!" His partner listened and shot a lightning speed projectile right at her target.

The Psybeam looked pretty large, and it was going pretty fast too. Before the move hit it's target, Golem rolled out of the way slowly, just in time to evade the attack. Alex expected this, knowing that this would be difficult. A Fire Type going against a Rock Type wasn't really a smart choice, but He believed in his heart, that Braixen could pull this off.

"It's a double battle, you know what we should do?" Alex whispered to his partner.

"What?" James wondered curiously.

"We should combine our attacks, remember how I use Ember and Psybeam at the same time? We should try that too, Braixen is going to have a lot of trouble going against two types she's weak to." Alex explained the plan.

"Yeah I know, I'll do my best to keep Braixen safe from their attacks." James replied, fully understanding what Alex was telling him.

"Slowbro, use Water Gun!" Faba ordered.

Immediately, the Water Gun fired right away! Again, the water flew directly towards Braixen at a very fast rate, leaving her no chance of escaping in time.

"Zorua, counter it with Dark Pulse!" James exclaimed.

"Zo-Ra!" Zorua yelled at the attack, opening his mouth and firing a Dark Pulse straight at the Water Type attack.

The move cancelled out the attack, and there was a small explosion occurring from it right after.

"Hm..." Faba scratched his chin and examined the two Trainers in front of him.

"These kids are actually worth the time to fight... They know what they're doing." Mark said.

"Not to worry, we have the advantage here... Rock and Water against a Fire, we have to focus their Braixen, once we do that... Then we'll win this fight easily." Faba replied.

Their thoughts were quickly interrupted when both Alex and James announced their next attack!

"Braixen, use Psybeam one more time!"

"And Zorua, use Dark Pulse and combine it into Psybeam!"

"Braiii-Xeen!" Braixen charged up Psybeam and shot the attack from her stick weapon.

"Zooo-Raa!" Zorua did the same and followed up after her.

The Psybeam and the Dark Pulse were heading towards each other slowly, and they were moving pretty quickly too! Faba and Mark had no idea what they were doing, but they had to prepare themselves for what was going to come at them next! Eventually though, the two moves collided and they formed into one large dark beam of light! A Dark Psybeam was created, and it was headed straight towards Slowbro.

"Interesting... Very clever tactics, but not clever enough! Slowbro, spin the attack right off of your tail, and send it back!" Faba shouted.

As soon as Slowbro heard that, he looked like he was ready for it to hit at any moment, and once it was just inches away from touching him, he did a quick flip, while doing a spin, and he bounced it right off of his tail. The projectile slowed down completely stuck in the air, and then Golem threw a rock at the Dark Psybeam, sending it back the way it came!

"N-No Way!" Alex was shocked by the move not working.

"Why didn't it explode when it touched?" James was surprised as well.

They had to think of something quick, the move was heading back, and it was moving pretty quick too. Without saying a word, Alex and James were already too late to think of something in time, so the move had already struck Braixen, critically injuring her. Golem was aiming for Braixen's leg, and it made her stumble to the hard concrete below.

"B-Braixx!... Bra!..." She growled in pain, while struggling to even sit up from the ground.

"Braixen!" Alex called her name.

He ran up to her and kneeled down beside her.

"Hey girl? A-Are you alright?" He whispered into her ear.

"B-B-Br!" She struggled to even speak back.

This broke Alex's heart, seeing her in pain. He noticed her leg, and it was badly injured, with scrapes, small cuts, and bruised mark scattered all over it. She tried to stand up on it, but a sudden jolt of pain shot through her body, and she fell back down. Before falling though, Alex caught her with his arms and he helped her out.

"Hey, don't stand on it... I'm... I'm sorry for not saying anything, but that move was going too quick for me to even think of something!" He spoke softly.

She shook her head at him and touched his shoulder, giving him confident looking eyes. She used his body to get herself back up and she pushed herself.

"You can't battle on your leg, you probably broke it! That attack looked seriously painful from here." He argued with her.

"Brai? Brr.." She shook her head again and she eventually stood back up.

She wanted to try her best to get back into the fight, but the pain from her leg came back again, more painful than the last one.

"S-Stop! I don't wanna see you get hurt anymore, you need to rest... I'm still proud of you no matter what, don't push yourself too hard! Staravia will take over for you." Alex mumbled quietly.

"Zor? Zo! Rua!" Zorua came over to see how Braixen was doing, and he took a seat beside them.

He looked up at her and gave her a sad frown.

"Braixen, Xenna Raix?" She spoke to him.

"Ra!" He nodded his head in reply, smirking again like he always did.

"You're going to rest okay?" Alex told her.

"Eeeveee!" A voice called, it sounded like a battle cry, and Eevee jumped right in!

"Braixen Braix?" Braixen looked down at her small little friend, and she saw the look in his eyes.

She could tell that his eyes were flaming, and he was filled with rage too.

"Bwee! Vee-ee!" Eevee pointed his paw at her, then he looked up at Alex and nodded his head up at him.

"W-What? You want to battle them?" Alex asked in shock.

"Bui!" Eevee nodded again, showing him confidence.

Braixen went ahead and looked through Alex's bag for her ball, as much as she didn't like it... She pulled it out and felt like she would regret being in her ball, but it was for the best right? She pushed the button on the device, and then she got sucked through it, disappearing in a matter of seconds!

"Are you sure you want to battle? You've never battled before!" Alex asked Eevee again, just to be sure with his decision.

"Eev!" Eevee nodded one more time so that he would understand.

He did a quick flip into the air, and landed right in front of him, looking at the two opponents in anger! Zorua walked right next to Eevee, and stood beside him. They exchanged angry looks at each other, and then they looked at Faba and Mark, giving them killer looks soon after.

"Might as well scan his moves..." Alex thought to himself.

He took out his Dex really quick, and then checked Eevee's moves. Once the Dex finished scanning Eevee, Alex was quite shocked by what he read! Eevee knew quite a handful of good and useful moves!

"Eevee, Male, Recently Hatched, Moveset: Bite, Swift, Last Resort, and Sand Attack!" The Pokédex explained more info about him.

"Really good combo moves... Maybe he'll do fine out there, I hope... Doesn't every Pokémon have a fighting sense in them?" Alex thought about Eevee fighting more.

Without showing concern, he looked at James and he nodded his head back, saying that he should give Eevee a chance.

"Fine... Let's go! Eevee, use Swift!" Alex commanded.

Immediately after hearing those words, Eevee jumped high up into the sky, and did a couple of flips throwing tons of shooting little stars towards Golem.

"Zorua, follow up and use Dark Pulse! Combine those two moves!" James shouted soon after.

Hearing that, just was enough for Zorua to instantly follow what he was instructed to do, and he shot a very large Dark Pulse into the small stars. Once the projectiles collided with each other, the Stars turned from a whitish bright creamy yellow, to a dark magenta, blackish Pulse surrounded by Dark Stars. The giant combination caused the projectile to travel at an insane speed! And it looked pretty dangerous too.

"Hah! You think that's going to stop us? Well you're surely mistaken!" Slowbro, push the move out of the way with Water Gun!" Faba ordered.

"Sloww!" Slowbro screamed.

He opened his mouth and shot a large amount of water, and aimed it directly towards the dark projectile. Once the water hit the Dark Starry Pulse, the move was instantly pushed out of the way, and it was going straight up now!

"What?!" Alex yelled in frustration.

They all watched as the move kept on going higher and higher up, until eventually... It exploded on its own! It made a large explosion sound, and James was starting to get a little bit worried at this point!

"T-There's no way... That was our second combo move, and they just take it out with ease. We have to find a way to take out that Slowbro." James mumbled.

He was standing right next to Alex, so he was heard by him, regardless if he whispered or not.

"Do you have another plan for the-!" James started speaking again, but Faba cut him off by his loud screaming...

"Slowbro, use Confusion on Eevee!" Faba yelled.

It forced Alex and James to concentrate back to the battle again, and they watched as Slowbro did a ginormous jump, and then he landed right in front of Eevee, startling him half to death!

"E-Eevee! Get out of there! Use Bite on him and then escape!" Alex interrupted.

"Zorua, back him up with Foul Play!" James cut-in as well.

Eevee started glowing brightly white, and Zorua started glowing a dark purple black aura, both of them looked pretty harmful, and they were ready to attack Slowbro. They jumped towards him before he could use Confusion, but as soon as they were about to attack, Golem stepped in and used Heavy Slam to knock both of them away instantly! Soon... They did a couple of flips, hitting the hard concrete and falling to the ground, in pain...

"E-E-Ee!" Eevee tried speaking, and he tried to get up, but he struggled at doing so.

"Zo-rr..." Zorua did the same, except he gave his opponents a very evil looking face to intimidate them.

"Eevee, Sand Attack!" Alex continued to command.

Eevee heard his words, and tried getting back up again to use the move on both targets, but they were already standing right in front of them, towering over the two.

They looked like giants from both Zorua and Eevee's perspective view, and they were now frightened for what was going to happen next.

"Cancel him off, use Yawn!" Faba continued to yell...

"Slooooow!" Slowbro did a huge yawn, and yawned directly towards Eevee.

As soon as the sound-waves hit Eevee, he yawned himself quickly after, and he felt a little weird about it.

"Ee!" He started freaking out because of the strange feeling, and suddenly, he didn't understand why he couldn't keep his eyes fully open!

His eyes eventually closed on their own, and he started stumbling a bit, feeling sleepy too. He couldn't stay awake, and he just fell asleep instantly. Seeing this, nearly gave Alex a heart attack. He was very worried about what was going to come next, and he ran out of ideas!

"Zorua, use-" James started off, but he was cut-off... Again!

"Hurry up and finish this, use Heavy Slam one more time..." Mark cut-in.

"Gol-eem!" Golem shouted at Zorua, and pummeled him into the ground even furthur.

He caused Zorua to sink into the ground, leaving a small crater beneath him.

"Z-ZOOR!" Zorua screamed in pain as he felt Golem crushing him.

Golem stayed on top of him for a while, refusing to get off.

"Hey! You can't cut him off when he's yelling an attack! That's not fai-" Alex shouted at Mark, but Faba suddenly yelled back at him.

"Whatever, who cares! You caused this yourself, look at your two useless, weak Pokémon now! Just give it up and hand over Vulpix, or else we'll keep on doing this to each and every one of your Pokémon. Face it, you have no chance of winning this battle." Faba told them.

He stared at Vulpix in Melanie's arms and noticed the fear in her eyes. She was crying slightly, just by looking at Eevee, who was still sleeping.

"Headbutt Eevee, Slowbro." Faba ordered another attack.

"Slow!" Slowbro nodded in agreement, and then he started charging at Eevee.

Eevee was still sleeping, and he didn't have anything to defend himself against the attack. Zorua was in too much pain already, not moving at all. He watched as his battling companion was still fast asleep.

"No! I won't let you!" Alex yelled.

He ran as fast as he could to grab Eevee before Slowbro could impact him, but pretty soon... He was already too late. Slowbro had already struck Eevee with his head, and doing that, caused Eevee to immediately wake up, startled from the move.

"Ebwouii!" Eevee screamed from the impact.

He was sent flying into the side of the Hotel's concrete wall, and when he impacted it, he was left in a small hole on the wall, just like Zorua.

"Eevee no!" Alex shouted in fear.

He started running to his injured Pokémon, and saw a few bruised marks on his body. Seeing this broke his heart, he gently grabbed Eevee so that he wouldn't hurt him any more, and he carried him in his arms, examining the rest of his body.

"Eee... Eee, vee..." Eevee was stuttering, and he kept his eyes closed.

He was breathing heavily and he couldn't feel himself again. He simply laid there in Alex's arms, feeling nothing but pain all over...

"Eevee? A-Are you alright?" Alex mumbled quietly.

Melanie walked over behind Alex and wanted to see how Eevee was doing. Seeing Eevee like this broke her heart as well.

"Eevee..." Melanie whispered.

She set Vulpix on her shoulder, and then proceeded to pet Eevee's head gently. As soon as her hand made contact with his head, Eevee began to shake a bit. So, she started rubbing her hand slowly so that it would feel better, and it worked! Soon, Eevee stopped shaking, and he opened his eyes again to look at the two Trainer's above him.

"You tried, that's what counts... I thought we could use Last Resort and do tons of damage to them... But it was already too late, they have a big advantage over you and Zorua... This wasn't a fair match." Alex told him.

"Bwee... Buii." Eevee nodded slightly, he tried to resist the urge to cry in front of them, especially Vulpix...

He saw a small tear escape from her eyes, and saw the depressed look on her cute face. He saw in her eyes that she cared about him a lot, and eventually... He started crying too.

"Vulpi..." Vulpix mumbled slightly.

She walked down Melanie's arms and balanced herself so that she could comfort him. Once she reached him, she put her paw on his, and she held it tightly. It was painful to see him like this, and he didn't deserve to go through this pain. It was a heavy collision with the wall, especially since he was hit pretty hard from a bigger target. He tried standing up in Alex's arms to get back into the fight, but he fell down soon after doing that...

"Don't stand, you're already hurt!" Alex exclaimed.

He didn't want Eevee to get hurt anymore, so he held him closer to himself, worried about Faba coming over to try and do something to them. Unfortunately... He was right, he looked behind him again and saw James, holding Zorua in his arms. Zorua was breathing heavily too, and he looked like he was in a lot of pain. There were even bruises and marks on his body too, just like Eevee's.

"We have to leave, there's no way we have a chance against them." James told his friends.

"How can we? There's probably a ton of Aether Workers around the area! We're trapped here, we can't go anywhere! We're going to get caught for sure, then they'll put us all in a cell back at their labs!" Melanie started freaking out.

"Calm down, okay? Look, maybe we do have a chance or something... Never lose hope alright?" Alex tried persuading her.

"But what if-" Melanie spoke again, but this time... She was cut-off by Faba walking over shouting at them as usual...

"Looks like we won, now if you don't excuse us, we'll be taking the Vulpix, the Eevee, and the Zorua. They're all very rare! And I think the President would really love all three of them. Judging by how you battled, we can easily tell that you're all too weak to even take care of these poor creatures. Let us take them so that we can-" Faba started explaining his plan to all of them, but Alex had already begun talking back!

"No! You listen here you freak! Why don't you just let it be and leave it alone! There's no way we're giving you our Pokémon! Vulpix is hers now, NOT YOURS!"

"You guys are cruel, Vulpix isn't going back there to live a horrible life on her own, so how about you-" Melanie started off.

"How about this then, Slowbro, use Yawn and put them ALL to sleep!" Faba commanded.

"And Golem, use Self-Destruct... Finish them ALL off!" Mark was next.

Hearing those two commands was enough for them to take a couple of steps back from the two Pokémon standing right in front of them. Slowbro opened his mouth, preparing to use the move against all of them, and Golem was doing the same, approaching closer and closer to them. Their hearts started pounding rapidly, and they didn't have the time to pull out another Pokémon and stop them. It was already too late, and they soon... Touched the wall from the Hotel. They didn't have anywhere to go, Slowbro was on the left along with Faba, and Golem, with Mark, were on their right side.

"VUULL!" A scream came out of Vulpix's mouth.

She jumped up really high from Melanie's arms, and she looked at both Faba and Mark, along with their Pokémon. She opened her mouth up wide and summoned a large snowy cloud just above herself. The cloud was hovering over everyone, and it surprised them all, leaving them confused about what she was doing.

"W-Wait, she's using..." James stuttered in fear.

"What?! Spit it out already!" Alex and Melanie shouted at the same time.

"Just run, she's using Powder Snow!" James shouted out loud.

"WHAT!?" Faba and Mark were yelling from his words.

The three Trainer's started running straight ahead, pushing Golem and Slowbro out of the way so that they could get through easily. Once they did that, they stopped running until they were a couple of meters away from Vulpix. They stared in surprise as the cloud above Vulpix gradually increased in size, and it eventually grew to the point where it covered Faba and Mark, along with their Pokémon!

"PIIIIX!" Vulpix continued to scream in anger.

Suddenly, there was a large blizzard of snow that swallowed them underneath her, making a very loud noise in the process. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, until the cloud started shrinking. Once it did that, the cloud eventually vanished into small snowflakes, and it left Faba and Mark, frozen solid in a large block of Ice! Even Slowbro and Golem were caught in the block as well, it blocked off the Hotel's door, and on top of the block was Vulpix, who was sitting innocently, wagging her tail...

"Vwull!" Vulpix giggled and smiled at her friends, who were simply just staring at her in complete shock...

She jumped from the block and landed on top of Melanie's head, still giggling like an adorable little maniac.

"W-What just happened?" Melanie asked, still curious about all of that.

"Who cares! Let's just get out of here and get back onto Route 10, we need to get to Geosenge Town! So we don't have to deal with them." James suggested.

"R-Right!" Alex nodded.

They started running back onto the Main Street, and they didn't see any Pokémon Center around either... So there was no way they could heal their Pokémon. They just left Faba and Mark behind, so that they could get out of there fast. Once they got back to the Main Street, they followed the road that was opposite from the road they first came from yesterday.

"Alright, how far?" James yelled, panting tiredly.

"I-It's just a little bit of Route 10 left, then we'll be safe to Geosenge!" Alex answered, getting tired as well.

They started running past several other people, who were just giving all three of them weird looks. They didn't care about that though, right now the only thing they cared about was getting out of the Town quickly. Diantha wasn't there to protect them, neither was The Professor, so they were on their own. They started running past several buildings, cross-walks, roads, just to find themselves towards the end of the town. Running as fast as they could, they started getting more tired and tired as the seconds passed... But fortunately, they finally reached the other part of Route 10, which was a bridge leading over a small river!

"Finally! We're out of this tow-!" Melanie cheered happily, but her cheeriness quickly faded away as a certain small group came their way...

It was Aether Workers, and there were five of them who suddenly appeared to stop them in their tracks. Seeing all five of them holding Pokéballs in their hands was just enough to make their hearts pound again.

"You're not leaving yet, the boss told us to stop you, and that's what we're going to do!" One of the Aether Workers spoke to them.

"N-N-No! Just let us leave!" Melanie screamed at them.

They ignored her screaming, and they quickly took a few steps closer to the group. Next thing they knew... Was that even more Aether Workers popped out of nowhere, and now they were completely surrounded, with nowhere to go! There were about a dozen Workers around them, and they had no chance of escape!

"Ugh! They just keep coming, how badly does Aether want your Vulpix?" Alex complained.

"They love her apparently!" Melanie screamed again.

"You're not going anywhere! Just hand us the Vulpix, and you guys won't be turned in for thief! We won't get paid otherwise, so I suggest you just listen up and do your part." A voice came from one of them.

"Hmph, you give up yet?" Another voice popped up, but it was a female's voice this time...

They looked behind them and saw another scientist woman walking up to them slowly. She was wearing the same lab coat that Faba and Mark wore, along with the uniform's goggles on her face. Except, her goggles were colored a very light golden yellow color.

"Don't tell me it's another Ad-" James started to speak as well, but she already cut him off with her loud shouting.

"IT IS ANOTHER ADMIN! And I highly suggest you hand over Vulpix, and we'll let you guys go safe, and unharmed." The lady yelled at them, startling them with her loud scream.

All of them started surrounding Melanie and her friends, until it was at the right moment to attack...

"No way... Vulpix, use Powder Snow!" Melanie commanded.

Immediately after hearing her words, Vulpix did what she was told and jumped up off of Melanie's head. She did the same move that she used on Faba and Mark, and summoned that same cloud again. Once that happened, a large pile of snow started falling from the cloud! She tried her best so control it so that it wouldn't hit her friends, and luckily... It worked! All of the Aether Workers and the Admin, were soon covered in a large pile of snow. And this was the perfect time to escape!

"Good job Vulpix!" Melanie cheered again.

Vulpix landed back on her head, and giggled sweetly, feeling good about herself. Alex climbed up above the pile of snow, and then he helped James and Melanie get over it too soon after. Once they made it over, the gate was clear, and they ran right through it, crossing over the bridge, and escaping the Aether threat that was upon them. They kept on sprinting, ignoring Aether behind them, and eventually, the route led them back to the forest! As soon as they were in the forest again, they slowed their pace down and decided to just walk for now.

 ** _Play Song: (Pokémon League (Nighttime) - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=dUZAZt4jAHQ&t=946s)_**

"O-Okay! *Pant!* I think... *Pant!* I think we're fine for now!" Alex sighed, tired from all of the running they just did.

"Do you think we left a scene back there?" James asked in worry.

"Doubt it, they're clearly evil from Melanie's story, and they must really want Vulpix back." Alex responded to his question.

"I just, I just wish they could give up already and leave it alone." Melanie frowned, letting a tear fall from her face.

She was getting more and more worried about Vulpix now. This wouldn't have ever happened if she hadn't had just stayed back in the forest and watch Alex and James' fight earlier.

"Are you okay Melanie?" Alex mumbled quietly.

He slowed down his walking pace so that he could stand next to her, and he noticed the tear falling from her face while she was looking at the ground.

"I just feel stupid... I should've just stayed to watch your battle yesterday morning. If I didn't meet that girl, then we wouldn't be-" Melanie cried a little but Alex took the opportunity to wipe them away with his hands.

"Don't say anything, it's not your fault... We're all in this together, and we're keeping Vulpix whether they like it or not. She's officially yours since you have her Pokéball on you, and I think it was actually worth it keeping her away from them. She's a really awesome Pokémon, and she deserves to be happy with us!" He was hoping to cheer her up from those words.

She looked directly at him and blushed hard, clearly showing him her face, he saw the blush and he just smiled at her. She stopped for a quick moment to give him a quick tight hug, refusing to let him go after a few seconds. Her sudden action caused Alex to be surprised, since he didn't expect it! Now it was his turn to blush at that, and he looked at James who was just standing awkwardly behind her, who was giving him a funny smirk.

"Mhm..." James nodded while crossing his arms.

He left them alone and decided to go ahead of them, leaving them behind. Alex hugged her back and felt very nervous about it too, he didn't know what to do next other than to just listen to her words.

"T-Thank you Alex, you're a good friend you know that right? I-... I haven't met anyone like you before. I've never met a person who cares about me as much as you do, thanks for telling me that! And, you're right, we deserve to have Vulpix with us! Who cares what those Aether people say and think!" She giggled when she backed away from him slowly.

Once they departed from each other, Alex just smiled back at her and started walking on again.

"No problem." He said a short response.

She could tell that he enjoyed the hug since he blushed when she made contact, and she enjoyed it too! He really did mean a lot to her, and she could tell that she meant a lot to him too. She stopped daydreaming once James yelled at her from ahead.

"Hey! You coming?"

She snapped out of it and saw them both WAY ahead of her, they were just about done with the forest area of Brackish Town, and she couldn't wait to get to Geosenge Town! She ran up to them to catch up, and eventually she made it back. She stayed next to Alex and kept on smiling at him happily.

"So, how long until we get there now?" She asked him.

"Uh, I think it's just up ahead." Alex answered.

He heard snoring coming from his arms and saw Eevee fast asleep, without a care in the world! He looked like he was resting from the fight, but his breathing was heavy, and he looked like he was already in enough pain as it was... Then Alex took a look over at Zorua, and he was doing the same thing as Eevee was. Both of them were really tired, and they had no chance against Faba and Mark.

"I hate that they have to go through this..." Alex groaned while looking at Eevee.

"Me too, but we had no chance of defeating them no matter how many Pokémon we used against theirs. They only used two Pokémon and they defeated Braixen and Eevee easily! They're way too strong for us to even beat! We need to stay away from them so that we're ready to take them head-on..." James agreed.

"I know, I just don't understand how they knocked that Dark Pulse back at Braixen, it hit her right in the leg, and she looked pretty injured from that attack. I just hope we can get to a Pokémon Center quickly, so that she doesn't have to suffer from the pain she's going through right now." Alex felt bad about it.

He felt as if he could've done something about it, or go back in time to correct his mistake of not focusing on the battle.

"Ee, bwuiii.." Eevee groaned in pain, and he opened his eyes slightly.

Vulpix jumped from Melanie's head to Alex's, then she ran down his arm to greet Eevee from waking up.

"Vuu?" She gave him a sad look and put her paw on top of his.

"Bui, bwe-ve" Eevee mumbled, replying back silently.

"You'll be fine Eevee, we're already almost there anyways, right Alex?" Melanie asked, showing her happy confident cute smile again.

"U-Um..." Alex started off, not knowing what to say next...

"Um is the right word..." James spoke with a worried tone in his voice.

Upon hearing that, Melanie looked straight ahead and she opened her mouth pretty wide in shock! They were finally out of the forest, but ahead lied a very long pathway trail, and a lot of open areas of plains surrounding it. There was a massive beautiful view of the plains! You could see out for miles and miles on end! And to top it all off, the sun was beaming down on the plains, brightening up the gorgeous skies, and the large mountains in the background! There were also large stone pillars that looked like a trail leading down the route's road, and faraway ahead, there laid a small town just in their sights!

"So that's Geosenge Town up ahead?" James asked, cheerful about he saw.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure! It looks nice!" Alex pointed out.

"Couldn't agree more! It's a beautiful view!" Melanie agreed with her two friends.

Eevee tilted his head upwards so that he could get the chance to see the view as well, and he enjoyed it quite a lot! Even Vulpix giggled at his reaction! He had his mouth opened wide, and she could tell he enjoyed looking at the view! They continued on walking down the rest of the path, ignoring everything else behind them! This felt like the perfect time for Alex to check on how Melanie was doing.

"Hey, how are you feeling? You know... About all of this?" Alex wanted to know.

"The view or about Aether chasing our butts?" Melanie chuckled at her own joke.

"Just Aether in general..." Alex replied.

"They're annoying, I'll tell you that... But *sigh*... I just wish they would leave us alone. Vulpix seems to be loved by Faba. As well as your Eevee too." She said.

"Heh. Yeah, I don't know what else we could've done, but Vulpix saved our lives back there!" He smiled and petted Vulpix's head gently.

"Pii!" She purred adorably just like a newly hatched Meowth would do.

"You'll keep us safe right girl?" Melanie giggled at her.

"Vulpii!" Her Ice Fox nodded happily and smiled at them both.

"I won't let that happen again, I'll be sure this time! They won't beat us easily!" Alex showed a bit of confidence.

"Good, someone I can depend on." Melanie blushed lightly and looked off to the distance plains.

At this point, Alex didn't have anything else to say but he wanted to ask her about that hug though... He felt a bit nervous about bringing it up, but he went for it anyways...

"So, about that um... Hug, you gave me." He started another conversation with her, whistling silently.

"Oh, um... W-Was it wrong for me to do that?" She blushed harder and felt embarrassed.

"N-N-No! It was... Actually a nice gesture... I kind of liked it, it felt nice!" Alex stuttered, blushing from his own words.

Hearing that made Melanie's heart beat again, she could feel it now... She didn't know this feeling, but it only happened once in a while whenever she and Alex were alone. She kind of liked it too, but it also felt weird for her. Was it something that she's never experienced before? She didn't know at all...

"I'm glad though, to be traveling with you." She grinned at him happily.

He looked back and gave her a large smile back.

"I'm glad I met you back in that forest, I think you'll do great on your first Showcase." Alex continued grinning.

"T-Thanks! It was your idea anyways! I'm going to go for it, for Queen. Just like you are for Champion." Melanie giggled.

James overheard their conversation and decided he'd better join it. He would've been bored just by walking silently to the town, ahead of them.

"How long until we're there!" He whined like a little child pleading for candy.

"Can't you see the town up ahead? We got about another mile or so left of this route." Alex answered his question.

"Oh yeah! Forgot about that... Anyways, what do you think we should do... If we have to fight those dweebs again." James chuckled to himself.

"Beats me... Their Pokémon had the advantage, plus I have to train Eevee to fight better. I know he can fight too... He's got potential, but he just needs a Training Mentor." Alex pointed out.

"We also need to work on acting faster... We were not ready for those counter attacks, so we need to act a little sooner." James replied.

"Well, if that's the case and they end up beating us again, then we'll just have Vulpix freeze then again." Melanie started laughing out loud.

"We could always do that... But seriously though, how many Workers do they actually have?" Alex wanted to find out.

"They have a lot more! I barely escaped from those labs yesterday morning..." She spoke back.

"How DID you manage to escape in the first place? Did Vulpix freeze them too!" James started bursting out in laughter!

His laughs were quickly fading away once he heard Melanie say,

"I got teleported outside of their Lab Building, and luckily, I got away and found you two shortly after." Melanie exclaimed.

"Teleport? How'd you teleport out of there with just Vulpix in your arms while you were trying to escape?" James asked? Curiously.

She was unsure whether or not she should tell them about Hoopa, but they WERE her closest friends after all, so they needed to know...

"I-I met this one Pokémon named Hoopa. And it-" Melanie told the story, but James quickly interrupted her.

"Wait!? You're talking about a real Hoopa?" James asked in shock.

"Y-Yeah! It had golden rings and stuff! I quickly befriended it, but I haven't seen any traces of it ever since yesterday morning. It had to leave to do something important, so I didn't wanna get in the way with it's life." Melanie said.

"Did it help you escape?" Alex wondered.

"Yeah, it used it's golden rings, and it teleported me outside into the forest again. It seemed like a really really friendly and nice Pokémon though. But what was strange about it was that it could talk our language!" Melanie finished the rest of the story.

"Wow! You really did meet a Hoopa?" James asked again, still in shock.

"Y-Yeah! I wouldn't lie to you two, now would I?" Melanie yelled back.

"What's a Hoopa though? Is it a powerful legendary Pokémon?" Alex wanted to know more about the mythical creature.

"I've heard lots of stories about Hoopa in the past from my grandfather. He told me that Hoopa had the power to transport and move anything that it could reach with its rings! But, it lost its power from a weird shaped bottle long ago, and it ended up changing into a small creature. I've heard a lot about it being twelve stories high! It was a huge Pokémon! Was it big when you met it?" James asked Melanie another question.

"No, it was small, and it only had three rings on its body." Melanie shook her head.

They stayed silent when a couple of bird Pokémon flew over their heads. Tons of Flying Type Pokémon hovered above them as they were walking, and it felt nice too! However, the only Pokémon that didn't notice it was Vulpix. She only had her mind focused on Eevee, and she kept holding onto his small paws.

 ** _Translation: (Poké-Language!)_**

"Hey, Eevee? You awake?" Vulpix nudged him with her nose lightly, so she wouldn't bother him from his sleep.

She still woke him up though... and he opened his eyes at her.

"Y-Yeah... I am now... What's up?" He yawned and looked very tired from the battle earlier.

"H-How're you feeling so far?" Vulpix asked in worry.

"Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be fine if I just rest for a while longer... It's... It's nice though, to h-have some company to talk to." Eevee blushed while looking up to her.

"Just rest... I still feel bad about you going through that, you looked like you were in pain out there." She held his paw tighter and blushed harder.

"Yeah! That's what I'm going to do, I just hope that those jerks don't show up again." Eevee groaned in annoyance.

"Well, still... T-That was pretty nice of you to stick up for me. You stood up and wanted to battle... For me! T-Thank you for that." She mumbled those words and blushed a little darker.

"N-No P-Problem..." Eevee looked straight into her shining eyes.

They were only inches apart away from each other, and both of them started leaning their heads closer to each other! Closing both of their eyes, they leaned a bit closer, until they could feel each other's breaths upon one another. Once they were merely millimeters apart now... They quickly got interrupted when Zorua started laughing out loud.

"Ahahah!" He laughed uncontrollably.

They broke apart and looked at him, embarassed by what they tried to do.

"Are you feeling any better Zorua?" James asked as Zorua was stretching his body.

"A little bi- Ow!" Zorua heard a crack in his back and it felt painful for a split second.

"You don't wanna move anymore after that fight, you got crushed by a bigger Pokémon remember? Just rest in my arms until we get to a Pokémon Center." James told him.

"Uugh... Fine!" Zorua rolled his eyes and laid back down in James' arms.

He looked pretty bored now, but he was looking at the bruises and marks he had from being crushed earlier. Eevee and Vulpix on the other hand, were feeling very embarassed by their actions...

"W-What was that! What was I even doing!" Eevee freaked out a bit.

He had no idea what to think of it, and he certainly didn't wanna think about it anymore either... He looked at Zorua and decided to get his mind off of the topic.

S-So how're you feeling?" He asked.

Zorua opened his eyes again and looked back. Once he did that, they both saw Vulpix climbing back up on Melanie's head. She didn't look very happy, and she just laid down on her tail, taking a nap in peace.

"What'd you do?" Zorua asked.

"N-Nothing!" Eevee was still freaked out.

"You DID something, I know because she doesn't really look too happy right now." Zorua noticed the frown on her face while she was sleeping.

"Okay fine! I'll tell you... She and I started leaning towards each other, and I didn't know what to do! My heart was just kept beating rapidly! I've been feeling weird about her for the past day!" Eevee stressed out.

"That's called 'love' dude... Besides, she'd want to be your mate any day." Zorua chuckled.

"M-Mate?" Eevee blushed very hard and didn't know what he meant.

"Y-You don't know what that means?" Zorua looked at him in shock.

Eevee shook his head to that question.

"Being mates means living together in a nest for the rest of your life." Zorua explained it.

"L-Living together?" Eevee stuttered back.

"Yeah, just go for it! She likes you a lot, everyone can tell. You're the only one she talks to. And you've been spending a lot of time together ever since she's arrived." Zorua suggested.

"I-Well I mean I guess I feel a little weird about her, why does that happen a lot? It only happens when I'm around her." Eevee sighed in frustration.

"Means you have a crush on her! And I'm pretty sure she has a crush on you! Go ask her out on a date already!" Zorua giggled.

"I don't know how! Can you help me? I don't wanna mess up and end up getting hated by her! I really like her!" Eevee asked, with begging eyes.

"I'm not really good with this sorta stuff... But one good tip you should take is to just follow your heart. Just tell her how you feel, and trust me! I guarantee you that she'll have those same feelings back. But if you really want me to help you, then I'd be glad!" Zorua laughed quietly.

"Please?" Eevee asked again.

"Fine, I'll help you. But you owe me something if you guys end up becoming mates!" Zorua help out a paw and gave him a quick smirk.

"Deal!" Eevee grasped his paw and shook it, agreeing to the deal he offered.

He sighed in relief, knowing he'd get help with her! And now he didn't feel so worried about it anymore!

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap because my back is killing me..." Zorua groaned in pain.

"I got smacked into a concrete wall! Do you know how painful that felt?" Eevee rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I got crushed by a boulder-head! I mean, look at us! We're dirty and we look like we just got out of... What are those human things called... um, jail! Yeah, that's the word!" Zorua giggled at him.

"What's a jail?" Eevee asked in a worried tone.

Zorua facepawed himself and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I'm taking a nap, goodnight..." Zorua laid down and closed his eyes soon after, blocking out Eevee.

"But it's not night!" Eevee yelled.

"Don't care... Taking a mid-day nap." Zorua mumbled back.

Eevee smiled at the mischievous Pokémon and decided to take a nap as well. He rested his head onto his fluffy tail, and he fell asleep instantly.

 _ **A couple of minutes later...**_

 _ **Play Song: (Solaceon Town (Daytime) - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=U9V5vKZoI68)**_

* * *

"Eevee!" A familiar voice popped up.

"H-Huh?" Eevee felt weird and fuzzy around himself.

He opened his eyes slowly and woke up in a forest. He quickly got up and looked around in fear, but once he got up, he discovered himself in a small nest made by leaves. It was very comfortable, and it felt like a cloud.

"W-Wait, I remember this...". He thought to himself, confused about everything that was going on.

"Eevee!" The voice called again, and it was getting much louder and closer than before.

"Who's there?" Eevee asked, curious to see who it was.

He looked around and saw a figure approaching him. His vision returned to normal and now he could see everything clearly! The figure was Vulpix! Seeing her made him blush lightly, as usual...

"Morning Honey." She greeted him and started getting a little closer to him.

"U-Uh... Hey! Morning, uh... Sweetie!" He greeted back, thinking that would help.

"You were out like a Snorlax last night!" She smiled and giggled at him cutely.

He didn't say a word, he just blushed in front of her and couldn't resist looking away from her beautiful face.

"T-Those eyes..." He mumbled to himself and he no longer had control over his body.

He felt himself being pushed towards her, his body acting on it's own... He was inches away from her now, and he pulled her into a tight hug. She felt warm instead of being cold, which sort of made him wonder why... But he pushed it aside and only focused on this moment with her.

"What were we doing last night?" He asked, just to get more information.

"We we're on a date to celebrate our one year anniversary together!" She giggled once again and hugged him back.

"O-Oh! Oh yeah I remember now, Yeah... That was fun!" He played along, hoping it would work.

"Yeah, I brought you something for breakfast by the way! Are you hungry at all?" She asked, wagging her tail in the process of asking.

"Sure! I'm starving!" Eevee replied.

He heard his stomach grumble, and he felt hungry now! Hearing his belly forced a giggle out of her mouth, and he heard her belly next!

"Okay! Okay! Let's go to our favorite place! It's kind of a surprise!" Vulpix offered.

She took his paw and grasped it gently, then she led him out of the next and into a different part of the forest.

"S-She's so..." Eevee couldn't help himself anymore, he kept on daydreaming about how beautiful she was for a Pokémon!

The way she looked amazed him, her fluffy tail, her cloudy fur on top of her head swirling from the wind, and her beautiful colored eyes that shined like diamonds! After a little bit of walking for a while, they finally made it to their destination, and what Eevee saw next was a large and beautiful lake, surrounded by tons of other Pokémon nearby, Berry bushes, and trees! It was an amazing sight to see, and he found it beautiful just like Vulpix.

"W-Wow!" He gasped in surprise.

"Beautiful huh? I found this place near our home, I never knew it existed until now. I went exploring this morning and discovered it, it's nice isn't it?" Vulpix asked, looking over her shoulder to him.

"Yeah! It's, It's amazing!" He smiled at her in amazement, and she forced a smile right back at him!

"Yep, now let's see... What can we get you for breakfast..." Vulpix sat down with him and thought about what he should eat.

"I thought you had already made it!" Eevee growled at her.

"Well, that was a surprise... I wanted to go and find something to eat with you. It'll be fun!" She rolled her eyes at his growling and laughed at him soon after.

"Not funny!" He yelled and tackled her playfully.

"H-Hey! Woah!" She laughed some more and fell down on the soft warm grass beneath them.

They laid down on the grass together and stared directly at each other's eyes! Not looking away either, another one of those heavy blushes came into play, and they were both enjoying each other's company.

"So, now what?" Eevee asked, chuckling with her.

"I don't know... What we usually do?" Vulpix asked, holding both of his paws now with hers.

"What do we usually do? It's been a long night, I forgot..." Eevee played along, and he knew it would work on her.

"We cuddle all the time together, remember?" Vulpix laughed at his response.

"I forget things easily! Like I said, it's been a long night. But at least I was glad to enjoy it with you." Eevee was curious to see where this would go.

"Come here you..." She giggled and hugged him tightly.

He hugged her back and felt her nuzzling her head against his cheek. He felt shy about it and his heart was pounding rapidly again like it always did. It felt... Nice to him, but something was off. She felt warm instead of cold, and he began to worry about it.

"So what should we do for breakfast then." She asked, still cuddling with him.

"U-Um, I'm not sure, what do YOU wanna do?" Eevee asked the question back.

"Well, we could go visit James, we're right near that large city." She answered it.

He ignored her and started leaning towards her, feeling weird about it again... She stopped talking and her eye's were widening in surprise! She started leaning closer to his, until they were millimeters apart away from touching... They felt each other's breaths, and they didn't look away either. The only thing they both focused on, was just each other. Nothing else would ruin this moment, not even an explosion! Heck, even if the world was ending... They would only focus on this moment with each other! Eevee felt himself licking his lips, then he noticed her doing the same thing. He felt his eyes closing and his body forcing his way even closer... They were about to touch, but a sudden shout interrupted their little romantic moment...

"WAKE UP!"

* * *

"GAH! WH-WHAT!?" Eevee was startled and woke up immediately.

The shouting came right next to his left side, and it gave him a small headache. His head was pounding and he rubbed it slowly, wondering who it was that screamed at him.

"Wake up! We're already here at the next Town!" Zorua exclaimed happily.

"Uuughh, Fine!" Eevee rolled his eyes and looked up from where he was.

 ** _Play Song: (Geosenge Town - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=H5U29NHZkMM&t=1573s_**

Alex and his friends finally made it to Geosenge Town, it was a long walk... But they eventually reached it! The town was relatively small, there were only a few buildings in sight, and there were a few other routes in the middle of the town that led to other places... There were large stone pillars everywhere, and there were several people outside, along with their Pokémon too. It was small like Brackish Town, but it felt like a comfortable place to rest at.

"We finally made it!" Alex celebrated from their long walk.

"Yeah, it took us long enough..." Melanie complained about it.

"Well, let's get to the Pokémon Center first thing, so that we can heal our Pokémon." James suggested.

"Yeah, let's... Where is it anyway?" Alex wondered.

"I don't know, guess we'll have to explore for a bit..." James replied back.

They walked toward the center of the Town, and saw a stone pillar pointing straight to the sky. It had a few signs all over it, and there were a ton of writing on all of them, along with different kinds of symbols too! Alex took a look at one of the signs and noticed a '+' sign on it. It had the words "Pokémon Center -" It pointed to the left, and they looked to where it pointed. Upon turning, they saw that glorious building again! And they immediately headed over to it.

"Good, we can heal you guys up." Alex smiled at Zorua and Eevee.

"Finally! I've been feeling nothing but painful stings on my back!" Zorua complained, trying to reach his back with one of his paws.

After a few steps of walking to the building, they made it to the Center, and walked right through the doors. Relieved that they finally found a Center! When they got inside, the place was empty, and there was only Nurse Joy standing behind the counter looking bored. She didn't notice them, but she looked pretty tired for some reason...

"Nurse Joy!" They all greeted happily.

She snapped out of her trance and finally noticed the three Trainers walking up to her.

"O-Oh! Hello kids! What can I do for you today?" She greeted back joyfully... Giving them a very large welcoming smile.

"We were just wondering if you could heal our Pokémon? They lost a fight pretty badly... And they've been in pain the whole trip here from Brackish Town." Alex explained why they were.

"Oh! Okay! Who's hurt?" Nurse Joy asked, suddenly worried.

Alex dug around his bag for a bit, before pulling out Braixen's Pokéball to show her.

"Zorua, Eevee, and one of my Pokémon. She really hurt her leg, so would you mind checking up on her?" He asked politely.

She nodded soon after hearing that, and whistled with her fingers to call someone out for them. After a couple of seconds, an Audino appeared from one of the doors behind her, and it was pushing a small cart that was big enough for Zorua and Eevee to sit on.

"Yes?" The Pokémon asked Nurse Joy respectfully what was going on.

"Audino, can you help me with these three Pokémon really quick?" Nurse Joy asked back politely.

"Mhm!" Audino smiled and pushed the cart towards the three Trainers. Zorua jumped from James' arms and sat on the cart as soon as he could... While Alex gently set Eevee down on it, as well as the Pokéball.

"Thank you!" Audino thanked them, and started pushing the cart back to the doors next to the counter.

"What did Audino say?" James wondered curiously.

"She says we'll be done soon with your Pokémon! Just leave it to us!" Nurse Joy told them, and then followed Audino back into the separate doors.

 ** _Translation: (Normal)_**

"Guess we'll just have to wait then..." Alex sighed in relief, and then walked to one of the corners of the room.

There were chairs to sit at, so he went ahead and did just that! Melanie and James followed soon after, and joined their friend. Now they just had to wait for their Pokémon to be healed up, but Alex was worried about Braixen. He didn't know whether or not she would be okay! She's used to taking heavy hits from attacks, but that move looked like it seriously hurt from earlier.

"Ugh..." He groaned and put his hands around his head, sitting back and relaxing for the time being.

"You okay?" Melanie asked, worried about him now.

"No, just hoping Braixen will be okay..." Alex answered back.

"Don't worry about her! She'll be fine! Nurse Joy's are amazing at taking care of Pokémon! I'm sure Braixen will be okay." James comforted him.

"Yeah, she'll be good!" Melanie agreed with him.

They smiled at Alex and hoped that that would relieve him of his worries about his partner. It worked, and Alex smiled back at both of them! He was glad that he had them to cheer him up, they were good friends to him!

"So what else is in this town?" Melanie asked, trying to start a different conversation to talk about.

Alex took off his bag and opened it up. Once he did that, he pulled out the map, and took a look at it.

"Um... Stone pillars are rumored to possess mysterious power," He spoke out.

"We got that already earlier... What else?" James laughed at him.

"Uh... OH! This looks interesting, says there's a stone shop right next door to us behind the Center. That sounds interesting!" He suggested.

"Yeah! Let's go there!" Melanie grinned and agreed to his idea.

"Might as well check it out!" James nodded and stood up.

"Do you think it's a good idea to leave our Pokémon here?" Alex asked in worry.

"Yeah! It's Nurse Joy, she's like the nicest person on this planet! We'll be-" James replied, but someone cut him off from speaking...

"Here you are! Your Pokémon are all healed up!" Nurse Joy announced while pushing a cart from the same doors.

On the cart laid Eevee and Zorua wagging their tails together, looking happy! While Braixen came walking in right behind Nurse Joy, holding a Pokéball in her hand.

"Zor!" Zorua screamed at James and jumped off from the cart.

He ran towards his Trainer and jumped up into his arms, licking his face happily!

"Heyyy! You feeling better buddy?" James laughed while holding onto him, hugging him back.

"Zora!" His Pokémon nodded rapidly and continued to lick him.

"G-Good!" James kept on laughing from the affection Zorua was showing.

Eevee was next to jump off of the cart, and he ran up to Alex feeling fine!

"Eevee, you're okay right?" Alex smiled as he looked down at him.

"Bwui!" Eevee nodded and jumped up into his arms, doing the same thing that Zorua did.

He hugged Alex, and then he let go quickly when he heard Braixen walking over.

"Braix!" She cried out at her Trainer.

"A-Are you okay girl? Nothing's bad right?" Alex walked up closer to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Rai!" Braixen shook her head so that he could understand, and her leg looked like as if it was never hit from that attack earlier!

"Great! Everyone's okay!" Melanie giggled at her two friends and felt relieved for their Pokémon.

Eevee stopped hugging Alex and he took a quick glance over to Vulpix, happy to see that she was awake. She noticed him staring at her, and she quickly turned her head around from him, blushing hard.

"Ee?" Eevee tilted his head and wondered why she did that...

She didn't bother looking back at him, she just looked away and kept on blushing. It confused Eevee, and he didn't like it one bit for some reason...

"Thank you so much Nurse Joy!" Alex thanked her and bowed to her playfully.

"The pleasures all mines, I hope that they never get hurt like that ever again. They looked like they were seriously hurt based on their expressions and attitudes. Your Braixen's leg is fine though!" Nurse Joy replied back and bowed back to him, being cheery as always...

"Well, we're going to get going! Thank you once again!" Alex thanked her again.

"No problem! Like I said, pleasures all mines! Have fun on your trip here!" Nurse Joy happily spoke back, and walked back to her desk at the counter.

When she left them alone to themselves, Alex looked at his two friends and asked them,

"You guys wanna head out?"

"Mhm, let's go!" Melanie nodded and blushed lightly upon eye contact with him.

James nodded in agreement and followed them outside. Once they finally got out, they saw an Aether Worker right in front of them! And he wasn't facing them either, so she didn't see them! It was a girl this time, and she looked pretty friendly when she was talking to another old couple in front of her.

"Oh no! It's Aether!" James mumbled to his two friends.

"W-WHAT?! What do we do?" Melanie screamed out loud.

Her scream was just enough to get the Worker's attention... And the Worker turned around to see who was screaming.

"H-HEY! IT'S YOU!" She yelled at the three Trainers.

She ran up to them and had a very serious look on her face, looking intimidating just like the other Aether Workers.

"N-No you're no-" Alex shouted at her angrily, but she cut him off with her sudden shout.

"I'm not what? I know what you guys did... Give me the Vulpix!"

"You're not taking her!" Melanie screamed back.

The Aether Worker had a Pokéball in her hand, and she looked very angry! She walked up to the three Trainers and suddenly started giggling at them. It confused them, seeing her giggle... But it was enough to cause Braixen to step in, looking ready to battle the Worker.

"I'm just kidding, I don't want your cute little Vulpix." The Worker giggled.

"W-What?" All three of them were shocked to hear that from her.

"You heard me, I don't want her... I'm simply here just visiting my hometown." The Worker spoke.

"Wait, so you don't want her?" Melanie asked, holding onto Vulpix tight.

"Of course not! I don't care about that, Faba is just crazy in general..." The Worker sighed heavily.

"Wow... For a second there, we thought we were toast!" Alex sighed in relief.

"Nah, you're fine! I don't mean any trouble... Atleast, I don't want any trouble! You kids seem really nice though. I don't know why Faba has his mind only set on the three of you all the time." The Worker exclaimed, while walking away from them.

"So... You're not here to cause trouble then right?" Alex asked just to be safe for his friends.

"No... But I do remember you though." The girl pointed towards Melanie.

"M-Me? Where at?" Melanie was getting a little worried now...

"I remember seeing you along with Lillie back at the labs, I saw everything, and I was quite surprised how you managed to teleport out of nowhere." The girl explained.

"Let's go... Before they cause anymore trouble! We can't trust any Aether." James suggested, walking off to the side of the Pokémon Center.

"Wait! No! I-I don't mean any harm like I said! I wanna help you three..." The girl ran up to James and put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"Huh? You WANT to help us?" Alex asked her, causing her to turn around and look him straight in the eye.

"I felt bad about what happened... Truth is, Melanie you were right about what you said back there to Faba. I don't like the idea of how they treat Pokémon back in the labs, it's not right and it's a cruel thing to do... You were right about everything you've said. And you deserve to keep Vulpix too! Just remember that, don't let them take her away from you. It's for the best that Vulpix is safe! They're already on their way here... So you should get out of here while you still can." The girl warned them.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Alex asked.

"It's exactly what I just said... Besides, if I was truly an Aether Worker, then I would already be battling you right now for Vulpix. But I don't want to, because Faba has gone mad over this whole thing! The President doesn't even know about it, which is a good thing!" The girl responded.

"So what do we do to avoid them from finding us?" Melanie wanted to know more.

"You getting out of here, training your Pokémon so that you can stand up to them too! They have strong Pokémon, even Pokémon that have the capability to Mega Evolve!" The girl exclaimed.

"Mega Evolve? What's that?" Alex walked up closer to her and was very curious.

"It's... It's hard to explain, it's something new discovered in this region. I wish I could answer and tell you everything Aether has against you three, but I have to get back and report to Faba... I'll tell him you guys weren't here... You have my word!" The girl crossed her heart and started running off into the direction of the center of the town.

"Wait! We didn't catch your name!" Melanie shouted.

"It's Emily!" The Worker yelled back, just enough for them to hear her before she left the town.

As soon as she left, all three of them were confused by what they just witnessed... An Aether Worker, letting them go like that. Could she really be trusted? Or was she trying to sabotage them... They didn't really know, so they just shrugged it off and didn't worry about it too much.

"Well that sure of was something..." Melanie sighed in confusion.

"Pfft, no kidding! We can't trust any of them, she makes me feel uncomfortable by everything she's just told us... Can we really trust that girl?" Alex shook his head, seeming doubtful.

"Well, she DID just let us go... And she didn't look like she wanted to battle us for Vulpix, but then again... I guess you're right, she did seem really weird." James agreed.

"Let's just ignore it and explore this town! We're pretty far from Brackish Town! So the chances of them making it here that fast is impossible! Let's go check out that Stone shop Alex told us about!" Melanie cheered them both up and lightened the mood a bit.

She walked off smiling happily, and she joined James. Alex nodded and ignored the Aether Worker, he followed his friends and they made their way around the Pokémon Center. After walking around the small building, they saw a few wooden houses behind the Center, and it looked like a small neighborhood.

"So what kind of stones do you think are in this shop?" Melanie asked, just to change the topic.

"Probably really cheap boring ones..." James complained about it.

"When do you ever say anything positive?" Melanie yelled at him playfully.

"That's not true! I'm just stressed out from the Aether following us constantly..." James argued.

"Let's not worry about the Aether okay? We're not going to let them take Vulpix... Let's just focus on checking out this shop!" Alex interrupted their little argument.

They finally reached the large house behind the Pokémon Center, and there was a large sign on top of the building. The building looked like a house, however... The large sign kept it from looking like a normal one. There were also iron metallic bars on the windows, and it looked like it could be used for security reasons. The large sign had gigantic white colored letters that read,

"Marco's Stones of Wonder!"

Upon reading the name, James started bursting out in laughter, while Alex and Melanie just stared at him as if he's gone mentally mad.

"You okay dude?" Alex asked his friend, walking next to him.

"N-No! No! Just the name, that's all!" James chuckled to himself silently.

"O-Okay then... Let's check this store out." Alex announced.

He walked up to the building and pushed the door wide open, carefully walking in at the same time. His friends followed him inside the building and it looked very nice on the inside! There were tons of shelves, containing tons of price tagged items on them, as well as a large counter desk, with several people behind it. There were even people shopping inside, but the one thing that caught their eyes about the place was the items the shop was selling. There were tons of colorful and bright stones laying around on the shelves, some were shiny like gemstones, and several others had special symbols and designs on them. They looked really unique in a way, and it amazed all three of them.

"Woah!" Alex was memorized by the beauty of the stones.

"They look pretty cool!" James smiled as he looked at all of them.

"Yeah, some are beautiful even!" Melanie agreed with him.

"HEY! WELCOME!" A sudden manly voice shouted at them, startling all three of them.

It was enough to make them jump in surprise! The voice was extremely loud! Louder than a Loudred's yell!

"Oww! Jeez!" Alex covered Eevee's ears, while Braixen looked like she was ready to fight...

"Whoops! Sorry about that lads!" The voice laughed.

They turned around to see who screamed at them, and it was a large muscular man, he was wearing a uniquely colored uniform that matched the people at the counter, and he had a mining helmet on too.

"Who're you sir?" Alex asked.

"Me? I'm Marco! Welcome to my store! Sorry again for yelling at you like that! I'm just excited because I don't normally see any kids your age here ever!" Marco laughed out loud.

His laughing was even loud too... There was nothing that could yell louder than he could.

"OKAY! IT'S OKAY!" James yelled back.

"GOOD! LET ME SHOW YOU THE GRAND TOUR OF OUR MOST VALUABLE STONES!" Marco continued screaming like a maniac.

They uncovered their ears, hoping he would stop yelling and they followed the guy around the place. He led them to one of the shelves all the way to the left side of the shop, and it had several stones that were covered by a glass box. The box had a lock on the handle, preventing it from being opened, and inside laid several shiny stones that stood out from the rest of the shop.

"Woah! What're these things?" Melanie asked, curious about the way they looked.

"You think he'll stop yelling this time?" James whispered to Alex.

"Nope..." Alex sighed, and groaned soon after.

"Braixen Braix..." Braixen followed up with their whispering and agreed with Alex.

"These are one of our most collection of stones here! I found these in a very strange cave! I remember the day discovering them while mining! These stones are very special, and a bit pricey... Mostly because of how rare they are, and how powerful they are too!" Marco answered Melanie's question.

"What do they do?" Alex wanted to know more about the colorful gemstones.

Marco pointed to each stone individually, explaining what each one did. He started off by pointing to a brightly yellow orange colored gemstone, and on the inside, laid a small little design that looked like tiny fire embers.

"This stone here is a Fire Stone! It's very rare to find out there in caves, and it has the power to evolve any Fire Type Pokémon! If your Braixen were to touch this gemstone, then it could evolve it!" Marco explained.

"Woah! Really? Stones exist like that?" Alex was starting to get into this a little bit more.

It caught James' attention almost instantly, and Melanie couldn't help but stare at it's beauty!

"Yes-sir-ee! You got that right, there's a lot of stones that have the power to evolve many different types of Pokémon!" Marco replied.

"Buii?" Eevee tilted his head at the object and suddenly remembered what Alex told him from the Pokédex.

"Wait, I remember that name... Fire Stone... I think Eevee can evolve into a Flareon if he touched it!" Alex pointed out, while looking at his Eevee.

"Yeah-Yeah! Very interesting, you see... Eevee are very rare, you're pretty lucky to find one! We don't normally have visitors that have an Eevee, so you're the first one in a while! Heck, even this Water Stone and Thunder Stone here too!" Marco exclaimed.

He pointed towards a shiny water blue stone, and a different stone that was colored a dark lime-ish green! The two stones had special designs on the inside, just like the Fire Stone one. The blue one looked like water, and the green one had a small lightning bolt-like symbol on it!

"These next two stones have the power to evolve a Water Type, and a Thunder Type Pokémon to the next evolution! If your Eevee touched any of these, then I think he would become a Vaporeon and a Jolteon!" Marco talked some more.

"You hear that Eevee? A lot of these stones are connected to you in a way, it's really cool!" Alex whispered into Eevee's ear.

"Eh-bwoi?" Eevee tilted his head, showing a sly frown.

He looked impressed by it at first, but something about it made him feel a little uncomfortable soon after...

"The other stones I have are a Leaf Stone, a Moon Stone, a Sun Stone, Shiny Stone, Dusk Stone, Dawn Stone, and even an Ice Stone!" Marco kept on showing off the other stones he had in the glass containers...

Hearing the Ice Stone caught Melanie and Vulpix's attention quite instantly too, but when Vulpix heard the stone, she had a frown on her face just like Eevee's.

"So, do you wanna evolve your Eevee and your-" Marco started talking again, but stopped once he noticed Vulpix sitting on Melanie's shoulder.

"Vull?" Vulpix looked at him in confusion, and started thinking about why he suddenly stopped speaking.

"I-Is that a?" Marco stuttered in shock.

"An Alolan Vulpix? Yep..." Melanie sighed and showed him Vulpix.

"Woah! Ice Type Vulpix exist? WHAT A DISCOVERY!" He shouted again as usual...

"Alright I'm out..." James rolled his eyes and started walking away.

Alex nudged him with his arm, giving him a killer look...

"You're not going anywhere..." Alex mumbled.

"This guy is crazy!" James complained some more.

"We'll be out of here soon, we're just looking around..." Alex replied.

"SO, DO YOU WANT TO BUY ANY OF MY STONES?" Marco yelled again, showing a very large grin at them.

"Aha! No, No thanks sir! We we're just looking around, that's all!" Alex laughed slightly, feeling worried about Marco.

"Oh... Well it was fun while it lasted, you kids enjoy the rest of your day here then!" Marco laughed at them again and walked off to go and help another pair of customers.

"Well, that was something..." Melanie mumbled to her two friends.

"You can say that again... We should probably get going to Shalour City, right Alex?" James suggested.

"Finally someone says it, rather than me all the time..." Alex chuckled.

"How far do we have to go?" Melanie wondered about their next travel together.

"Just through Route 11, I just hope we don't run into any Aether along the way..." He sighed once again.

"Well, let's hope we don't encounter any one of them in the future anymore! Let's leave this weird town!" James smiled.

They made their way outside of the store and started looking around the town. The town did seem strange to them, and they felt uncomfortable for some reason staying here. The stone pillars everywhere made them feel a little uneasy about the place.

"Yeah, let's get to Shalour City and visit Korrina! After that, I have to prepare for my third Gym Badge!" Alex cheered, while walking on ahead.

James gave a quick glance over at Melanie, and she returned the same look back. They nodded their heads towards each other, and continued to follow Alex, looking forward to what the next town would be like!


	13. Ch 13, A Reflection In The Lost!

_**Ch. 13 A Reflection In The Lost!**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Mahalo Trail - Pokemon Sun & Pokemon Moon Music Extended: watch?v=ploHp25AX-M)**_

"Okay, now you go!" Melanie giggled.

"I spy with my little eye... A random Pichu hiding somewhere in the bushes, eating a berry!" Alex started to talk.

He and Melanie were playing I-Spy, while they were just leaving Geosenge Town. Along with them... Was James, and when he heard the word 'Pichu' come out of Alex's mouth, he instantly entered their little game!

"WHERE?!" James shouted rudely.

His shouting startled Alex and Melanie, they stopped what they were doing, turning around, and giving him dirty looks.

"Do you mind?" Alex yelled.

"You said Pichu! I want a Pichu so badly now!" James whined like a little baby.

"It was a joke to make you angry!" Alex started laughing from his reaction.

"And it worked!" Melanie agreed with Alex and laughed with him.

"Well..." James started coming up with a plan himself, so that he could get some payback on them later on.

"What?" Both Alex and Melanie spoke at the same time, examining their tired looking friend.

"Nothing... I'm just glad we're out of that town." James admitted.

He quickly yawned before setting Zorua on his shoulder. He was getting tired from carrying him around for a bit.

"Sounds like someone didn't really enjoy their visit." Melanie giggled cutely.

"No, I didn't! Seeing those Aether geeks everywhere is starting to get annoying... They're literally following us to our graves!" James started complaining again.

"Dude don't worry about them, they're just being annoying. Right now, let's focus on exploring the rest of this route before we get to Shalour City." Alex explained.

"Mhm... I Spy with my little eye..." Melanie started off the game again, and she kept on spinning around, searching for something to spot.

She stopped spinning when she took a quick glance at Alex, and she saw that lovely smile of his. He kept on smiling at her, waiting for an answer, but she never said anything... A small pink blush started forming on her face, and she didn't want him to see it. She quickly turned around and spotted a wild Dedenne minding it's own business. It was enjoying an Oran Berry, and it didn't seem to mind them at all. It only focused on eating the berry, looking quite pleasant with the taste!

"Oh, I see now! What's that Pokémon?" Alex grinned and walked up beside her.

He took a quick look at the wild Dedenne, and examined the small little Pokémon.

"I don't know... But it sure is cute!" Melanie complimented the Electric Type.

"There you go James! Here's a Pokémon you can catch!" Alex suggested.

"It's not a Pichu is it?" James raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"You don't have to have a Pichu you know... Come here little guy!" Melanie spoke softly.

The small rodent like Pokémon noticed Melanie approaching it, and it didn't mind her at all!

"De de ne?" It happily greeted her with a warm and welcoming smile.

James smiled at the two of them and started walking towards the small Pokémon. Once he reached them, the tiny rodent Pokémon showed James a look of fear on his face, and he immediately ran away into the bushes to who know where... Upon seeing the action, James simply frowned and felt disappointed at himself.

"Great..." James sighed heavily.

Melanie instantly felt bad for him, and she gave him a very sad look too. She stood back up and went to pat him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it... Maybe we'll find you a Pichu one day." She tried lifting his spirits up!

"Yeah, maybe... I guess it doesn't really matter, hey Alex!" James suddenly turned to look at him.

"Huh?! What?" Alex was too busy staring at a certain someone...

"What's next on this route? I'm tired of seeing tons of trees everywhere." James rolled his eyes in boredom.

Alex rolled his eyes and pulled out the same map again. He took a very quick look at it, and seemed pretty interested at what he read.

"Reflection Cave is next, then it's Shalour City right after." Alex explained.

He looked up from his map and noticed Melanie staring at him. She smiled brightly and took the opportunity to stand by his side, walking with him through the route.

"Alright! That sounds exciting! Let's go!" James cheered happily.

They all walked through the forest route together and kept on going until they reached a very small opening. It was calm, and peaceful as they listened to several chirps coming from Starly above. It was something they all enjoyed quite well, and it really brought them to joy in a matter of seconds.

"Mm..." Melanie took a deep breath in and enjoyed the warm air that surrounded them.

"So..." Alex started, feeling the same way about the environment.

"Yeah?" Melanie asked, looking back at him in return.

"What was that Pokémon really like?" He asked back.

"What Pokémon?" Melanie wondered what he was going to ask.

"Hoopa? Is that the name?" Alex wanted to be sure.

"Yep, that's what it was called back then. Atleast, that's what my grandfather told me." James answered his question.

"What kind of stories did he tell you?" Alex wanted to pass the time so that their walk to the cave wouldn't have to be so long and boring.

"In the past about Hoopa's life, and why Hoopa is small." James exclaimed.

"Is it really bigger than it's size right now? Cause when I met it, it was a small Pokémon." Melanie was into this now.

"Mhm!" James nodded his head to answer her question, and proceeded to tell the story.

"It lost it's power long ago, somewhere in Kalos WAY back then. It lived in a small village located in a desert." James told the story.

* * *

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokemon Movie 18 soundtrack Track #18: Young Mary and Balza 幼きメアリとバルザ: watch?v=DFikGBsdLuk)**_

"HAHAHA!" A godly like voice was laughing evilly.

The desert village... There were mountains surrounding the town, along with several river streams too, coming from the hills. There were a lot of people living in the village, and they were greeted with a strange large ancient Pokémon from above. The Pokémon was genuinely massive, like a modern day skyscraper. It was colored Purple, and it had large black devilish horns on its head. It's long arms had golden rings all around them, and it had six hands too. The evil looking red eyes, were enough to scare the villagers and the children, along with other Pokémon as well.

"Hoopa will show you all! Hoopa will show weaklings how powerful Hoopa really is!" Hoopa yelled.

It's loud voice covered the land around the village, and it was very loud too. As soon as it finished speaking, it pulled one of its rings from its arms, and it grew in size the moment it came off. The large golden ring was shot towards the center of the village, and inside of the ring, laid a purple dimension hole.

"Allay! Hoopa Riiing! Come fourth to Hoopa NOW!" Hoopa yelled in rage.

Suddenly, there was a large figure appearing from the ring, and it slowly made its way out, wriggling back and fourth rapidly. Once the figure found its exit, it was fully revealed, and it landed on the rocky ground, causing a small earthquake throughout the village. The shocks coming from the quake were enough to make the villagers flee in escape, terrified from everything that was going on. The stormy clouds above set the mood of everyone, and it started thundering almost instantly! The large figure appeared to be a colossal Pokémon, and it looked pretty angry too! It was a Regigigas!

"HAH!" Hoopa kept on yelling in anger, and it shot a gigantic dark purple colored beam from its mouth.

The beam was heading straight towards the golem legendary, and it was pretty quick too! Without hesitating, Regigigas fired an equally size Hyper Beam back towards the dark beam, and it cancelled out Hoopa's attack, causing a huge explosion to occur shortly after both beams made contact. The explosion could be heard for miles! And it blew away some of the small houses that were near the center of the Village. All of the villagers were frightened, from the two threats to their village.

"NO! TOO WEAK!" Hoopa shouted even more.

The large ring behind Regigigas quickly flew by over him, and it engulfed him, swallowing him instantly! The golem was sent back to wherever it came from, and the ring eventually shrunk in size. After it shrunk, it flew by over to Hoopa, and landed through his arm where it originally was before.

"HAHAHA! THERE! NOW YOU SEE! NO-ONE CAN CHALLENGE THE MIGHTY HOOPA! HAHAHAHAHA!" Hoopa laughed like an evil villain would sound like, and it started landing down to the ground of the center of the village.

He looked around and saw the destruction he caused to some of the houses, the roofs were blown apart, the windows were shattered, and the small patches of grass were blown away too. There was a lot of smoke everywhere, and it started to rain shortly after! There were no villagers in sight, they were probably hiding further away...

"But... One villager had a special bottle that he created. It was called the Prison Bottle, and it had an appearance that was very similar to Hoopa's colors too." James kept on going with the story.

"Hm?" Hoopa raised his large eyebrow, and looked down below him as he heard footsteps approaching him.

It was an middle aged man, and he was holding the Prison Bottle in his arms. He looked pretty intimidating, and he gave Hoopa a very serious mean looking face!

"What's this now? Puny Villager wants to challenge Hoopa to a fight? HA! You don't stand a chance against the mighty Hoopa!" Hoopa continued to laugh the same way.

The man didn't respond back to the large creature... Instead, he took off the lid of the Prison Bottle and aimed it directly towards Hoopa's body, holding it like a weapon!

"Hoopa is challenged by little bottle? HAHAHA!" Hoopa laughed harder.

As soon as it laughed, the bottle shot a brightly pink purple colored light, and it directly hit Hoopa in the chest! Once the light hit it, Hoopa felt a weird sensation tickling it on the inside, and it didn't feel good at all...

"Gwah! W-Wha!" Hoopa yelled in frustration and held it's chest with it's arms, feeling a little bit of pain coming next.

The bright light engulfed it's entire body, and it felt a dark purple aura coming from it's body soon after. All of a sudden, that pain grew much worse, and it felt like a heart attack!

"Gaaaah! ARRHH! WH-WHO DOES HUMAN T-THINK HE IS?" Hoopa continued to scream in pain.

Hoopa felt it's body shrinking, as the dark aura started approaching the bottle that the man was holding. A couple of seconds passing by, as the aura completely left Hoopa's body. It fell to the rocky ground hard, before the pain started to go away in it's chest. Without knowing what happened, Hoopa opened it's eyes again and it was very sunny out too. There were no clouds in sight, and everything was peaceful. Hearing footsteps surrounding it, Hoopa quickly flew up so that it could look around to see who it was. The first thing it saw was the man, closing the lid on the Prison Bottle, and putting it away into his bag.

"There, now you cannot do anything!" The man told him calmly.

"WATCH HOO-" Hoopa yelled at the man, but it covered it's mouth when it heard it's voice...

Hoopa's voice sounded higher than before, and it didn't seem right at all... Hoopa took a look at it's arms and noticed that it only had two! Pretty soon, Hoopa noticed a small puddle of water underneath, and it looked straight down to see it's reflection.

"WH-WH-WHAT DID MAN DO TO HOOPA!" Hoopa screamed in rage.

It tried to attack the man, but the man had already stopped him. He held out his hand as a 'halt' sign, and a sudden blue aura surrounded Hoopa's body.

"Hmph, should've known... A male Pokémon causing destruction to our village? How dare you do this to us!" The man shouted back to the Legendary.

Hoopa felt a little scared now, he felt powerless, and he was a lot smaller too. He couldn't move at all, which made him feel a lot worse.

"What's wrong? No words?" The man continued to talk to him.

After sighing heavily, Hoopa looked up to the man and gave him a sly attitude.

"What did man do to Hoopa... GIVE HOOPA'S POWERS BACK! GIVE IT GIVE IT GIVE IT BAAACK!"

"NO! YOU'RE NOT GETTING THEM BACK! I sealed away your powers into this bottle. Until you can learn to use your powers correctly, then I will return them to you." The man offered.

"No! Hoopa gave villagers tons of gold!" Hoopa argued.

"Doesn't matter! You're going to learn to use your powers for good, instead of your own foolish ideas." The man shouted once again.

Hoopa rolled his eyes in annoyance, and crossed his arms. Without having a choice to pick, he sighed in defeat and groaned heavily.

"Fine!"

He thought that if he could get his powers back, then this would have to be the only way... Once he DID get them back, then he'd find another place to live at instead!

"Good." The man calmly spoke again, releasing him from the blue aura.

Hoopa could freely move now, and he looked around as the villagers simply just stared at him, giving him weird looks.

"Where does Hoopa start..." Hoopa asked, feeling annoyed by this whole thing.

"Well you can start by apologizing for the big mess you've caused!" The man suggested.

"Ugh! No!" Hoopa crossed his arms again and looked away from the man, giving him another one of his attitudes...

"Hoopa..." The man felt frustrated with the small Legendary.

"Okay! Okay! Hoopa... Hoopa sorry... Hoopa sorry for everything!" Hoopa apologized, feeling humiliated to say those words.

He looked up to everyone around him, feeling puny, and weak to apologize. It was definitely something that he didn't generally do...

"So after that, the villagers forgave him, and started showing him the true way to be a good Pokémon! They taught him many lessons, and he eventually became a good Pokémon!" James continued to talk.

 _ **Days passing by the second...**_

After a couple of days, Hoopa helped the Villagers rebuild their broken houses, and also helped them collect food for the Village people to feed on. Feeling proud of himself, sometimes he got carried away and made a mistake here and there... But the same guy that sealed his powers, started treating Hoopa like his own son!

"Did Hoopa do this right?" Hoopa asked his mentor.

He was farming crops, placing seeds into the soil, so that they would grow into even more food! Then after he finished that, he covered the seeds with the fresh soil around the holes, and flew back to his teacher, Greg, smiling happily.

"Yes! That's it! Good job Hoopa." Greg chuckled at the legendary and petted him lightly on his forehead.

Feeling his hand rubbing against his head felt very strange to Hoopa. He felt his heart warming up on the inside of his body, feeling even happier all of a sudden!

"Hehehe! Hoopa did it! Hoopa did it!" Hoopa did a couple of flips and flew around Greg, giggling.

"Good, now the next thing we have to do is just water them." His teacher told him the next step.

"Can Hoopa use rings?" Hoopa wondered, seeing if he could use his powers.

"Yes you may use your powers, but try not to pour TOO much water now, you hear?" Greg confirmed his request.

"Okay!" Hoopa laughed, he flew over the rich soil, and grabbed the two rings off of his horns.

"ALLAY! HOOPA RIIIIING!" Hoopa announced.

He flew around each spot pretty quickly, as water started pouring out of the two rings slowly! He was doing a very good job at watering the seeds, and his teacher was proud of him! After he finished doing that, he returned the rings back onto his horns, and flew back to Greg, happy to see the warm look on his teacher's face.

"Well done Hoopa!" Greg complimented him.

"Now what?" Hoopa wondered what he would have to do next.

He watched as Greg walked by to one of the covered holes. He kneeled down and hovered his hand above it, as a lightly neon colored green aura surrounded the soil. Pretty soon, little grassy roots started popping out of the ground, and there were tons of vegetable plants in a matter of seconds! Carrots, Potatoes, Tomatoes, you name it!

"Wooah!" Hoopa gasped at the sight of the roots popping out!

"Good, now they should be able to grow pretty quickly! Thank you Hoopa." Greg smiled at the mythical, who was still awestruck at the roots growing slowly.

"W-What?" Hoopa asked back in surprise, he looked back at his master straight in the eye, giving him a confused look.

"Thank you... I know you've never heard those words before... But I am truly grateful for what you're doing for us. Thank you Hoopa!" Greg continued to smile happily, petting Hoopa on the forehead again.

"Oo?" Hoopa reacted to being touched again.

He got that warm fuzzy feeling in his heart again, and felt the urge to smile back at his teacher. He felt happiness inside of him, something he's never truly felt in the past. It was definitely new to him in a way, and he would never forget this moment, with his mentor.

* * *

 _ **Play Song!: (Mahalo Trail - Pokemon Sun & Pokemon Moon Music Extended: watch?v=ploHp25AX-M)**_

"And with that, Hoopa continued to learn new things everyday! But for some reason... Hoopa suddenly vanished, and no one in the desert village, has seen him ever again..." James finished telling the ancient story.

"Wait, so he just disappeared then? Out of thin air?" Melanie wondered.

"Yeah, at least... Thats what I've been told, Nobody truly knows whether or not Hoopa got his powers back. And to this day, no one has seen Hoopa ever again... He was just, forgotten about..." James sighed.

"Well that's really sad... I met him, and he seemed really nice! But he was still in his small form." Melanie replied, looking at the ground next.

"Hopefully he'll get his powers back eventually, maybe we'll see him again if you saw him!" James tried lifting up their spirits.

"I doubt it..." Melanie sighed yet again, feeling down about the story, and feeling bad for Hoopa.

"Hey, don't say stuff like that... I'm sure we'll find him eventually!" Alex wanted to cheer her up.

"Well if you say it like that, then I guess you're right!" Melanie blushed in front of him and agreed with him, feeling better about her worries.

Melanie noticed Vulpix sleeping in her arms, and looked down at the adorable ice fox!

"Awh, so cute! She fell asleep!" Melanie chuckled to herself.

She went ahead and returned Vulpix back into her Pokéball, then she put it away into the side of her bag. Alex and James did the same thing to Eevee and Zorua, so that they could get some rest too! Then Braixen came along next, and returned herself back into her own Pokéball.

"Well, guess that just leaves us three then..." James pointed out.

"They just need a bit of a rest, we've traveled a lot today already... Just trying to outrun those Aether brainiacs that are stalking us." Alex complained to him.

"Well, let's hope we don't have to see them for a while! Faba is probably still frozen back there! Along with his workers!" Melanie giggled at the thought of seeing Faba in that ice block from earlier.

The gang started walking their way into a large opening, which led them towards the outer part of the forest they were in. In the large opening, there were several mountainsides that covered the area around them. The mountain looked pretty big compared to their size, and it even had trees growing on top of it as well!

"So Alex, what's so special about Reflection Cave anyway?" Melanie wondered, scooting next to Alex closely.

"I don't know... The map just said that it had mysterious powers inside. We'll come across the entrance to the cave pretty soon." He answered her question.

Just then, once they left the big forest, they were surrounded by the large mountain in front of them. Every time you would look up in the place, you would see nothing but a ravine that you're in! They started walking along the rocky ground next to the mountain, until Melanie spotted something shiny from the corner of her eye!

"Woah, what's that?" Melanie pointed out, looking at the shiny object on the ground.

Alex and James looked at what she was pointing to, and they noticed it too! It was a big diamond jewel, crystallized rock, and there were actually several crystal rocks around them! They just sprouted out of nowhere from the ground, and it was truly a sight to see! Then, up ahead... Lied an opening that led into the cave of the mountain!

"Woah, what're these things?" Alex was amazed by the beauty of the shining crystals.

"Who knows, they look pretty though!" Melanie smiled at the sight of them.

She felt the urge to grab one and take it as a souvenir, but when she bent down to touch it, she felt a weird chill going down her spine! She suddenly stopped and stood back up again, walking ahead of Alex and James.

"You okay?" James asked her.

"Yep! Let's go explore this cave already!" Melanie answered back cheerfully in that sweet voice of hers.

"Yeah, let's go!" Alex tagged along with her and caught up.

"I got a bad feeling about this place..." James sighed.

His thoughts about the cave were quickly interrupted when a second thought came to mind,

"Better to keep on going than just standing here waiting for Aether to stalk us..."

He ran up to his two friends, and eventually caught up with them. After several minutes of walking towards the entrance to the cave, they were right outside of it now! The inside of it was pitch black, and they couldn't see what was inside.

"Do we need light? To see where we're going?" Melanie suggested, worried about the darkness being a problem.

"No, we should be fine for now... It doesn't look THAT dark." Alex answered, walking on in ahead of the two.

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokemon X/Y Reflection Cave OST (line in recording) Extended: watch?v=2uV4aYM2CkM &t=462s)**_

Once they were in the cave, they felt an eerie presence surrounding them... They continued to walk forward, eventually making the light start to dim down with every step that they took. But as soon as they took one more step forward, they reached a dead end...

"H-Hey! What?" Alex asked in shock.

He almost bumped into the wall, but Melanie stopped him from doing so.

"What gives?" Alex wondered, looking at Melanie.

"You were about to face plant into that wall... It looks like a dead end!" Melanie replied.

"Can't be true... We just gotta feel around it and see if there's another way." Alex started looking around the wall, trying to find something... But he never did.

"It would help a lot if we had light..." James rolled his eyes, annoyed a bit.

"We don't need light! At least, that's what I'm thinking..." Alex argued.

He kept on looking around until he noticed a small opening to their right side. It was a small gap in the wall, and they could fit through it too! Alex took the opportunity to squeeze through the gap, making his way through it easily! Melanie went second, then James did the same thing right after!

"See, told you... There's always a way around things." Alex smiled, watching his friends catching up to him.

"Good spot-" Melanie tried to compliment him, but she stopped talking when her mouth was hanging!

She looked behind him and saw the actual cave! Once James made it through, he was surprised too!

"What's wrong?" Alex wondered why they looked so shocked and amazed.

"Look!" Melanie turned him around so he could face the direction behind him.

Once Alex turned around, it instantly hit him! The actual cave was beautiful on the inside! The cave was well-lit, and they had more light to see the rest of the cave! Sunlight came in from certain small openings in the roof, and around the cave's walls, were huge blue colored diamond like crystals! The crystals were very reflective, and they could see their own reflection as clear as a reflection in a mirror!

"Woww!" Alex gasped at the beauty of the cave.

"It's so beautiful!" Melanie couldn't help but grin wide at the look of the crystals.

They all continued walking forward, passing by each of the crystals. There was something about the crystals that gave off a weird feeling to them. It was a tingling presence, but they didn't seem to mind it at all! They just focused on looking at their surroundings, and moving on slowly through the cave!

"My reflection on these crystals are so clear! I can see myself as if I'm seeing a clone!" Alex spoke, still amazed by the cave itself.

He walked towards his own reflection until they were inches apart from each other. He put his hand out to touch the reflection's hand, and once they touched...

A huge "BANG!" Sound rang out, echoing throughout the cave! It startled James and Melanie almost instantly, as they looked at Alex in fear.

"W-What was that?" Melanie mumbled, shaking a bit in fear.

"I don- AH!" Alex suddenly screamed in terror, he felt himself being pulled into the mirror slowly!

He tried to resist the pull, but it wasn't enough! His hand was getting sucked into the mirror, and he couldn't call out any of his Pokémon to help him out either! Pretty soon, his whole right arm was inside the mirror, and it caused his heart to sink!

"NO! H-HELP!" Alex cried for help.

Snapping out of their traces of thoughts, James and Melanie rushed over to their friend in aid. They grabbed his other arm and tried to pull him out of the mirror, but it still wasn't enough power to free him!

"No! D-Don't go!" Melanie screamed, trying her best to free her friend.

"H-Hel!" Alex started to mumble as he felt his head go into the mirror next...

His arm was the only part of his body sticking out, and the mirror was winning the battle!

"Alex!" James and Melanie shouted his name out at the same time.

Eventually... His arm was pulled right through their grasps, and he was taken away, by the mysterious mirror... There was nothing left of him... It was as if he just vanished out of thin air! Once he was gone... The mirror shattered, and there was nothing left of it!

"N-N-No..." Melanie whispered, taking a seat on the ground.

"W-What happened?" James asked, kneeling down next to her.

He heard her sobbing slightly, and he instantly knew she was upset!

"A-Alex!" Melanie cried, feeling a tear escape from her eye.

James didn't speak a word to her... But he knew one thing for sure... She was crying for Alex? He didn't expect her to do such a thing, so the only thing he did, was comfort her by patting her back.

"It'll be okay... Maybe there's a-" James began to talk, but Melanie cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"What other way is there? He just got pulled into a mirror by a mysterious force! You don't see that everyday! Maybe we're going crazy or-"

She was panicking, and James certainly didn't wanna hear her attitude towards him either...

"Ssh! Okay, well... We can figure this out! He said that this cave was filled with a mysterious power... Maybe if we search the rest of the cave, then I'm sure we'll find a way to get him back!" James suggested, hoping he would calm her down.

"Fine, let's hurry up then!" Melanie continued to scream, running on ahead as fast as she could.

"Wait up!" James called for her, sprinting after her.

They both ran through the cave, hoping to find a way to get Alex back!

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

 _ **Everything was dark... Everything was black... Everything was quiet... And not a single thing moved...**_

* * *

 _ **Play Song!: (Eterna Forest - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=xr9KFynxBpA&t=1197s)**_

"GAH!" Alex screamed in terror, opening his eyes suddenly.

He woke up after blacking out... The last thing he remembered was being pulled through a mirror, but was he dreaming about that? He stood up straight and looked around himself... He was still in the cave, but the only thing that was off was the color of the crystals. They weren't blue like he remembered before... Instead, they were red, kind of like a ruby color!

"W-Wha?" He breathed a little harder, starting to panic a bit!

He kept on looking around, and around, and around... Until he noticed the same mirror that he got pulled through! He looked straight into it, but he didn't have a reflection on it for some reason!

"Okay, get a hold of yourself! You're not losing it! You're not going crazy!" He told himself, trying to calm down about the situation he was in.

There was no reflection, the crystals were red, and there was a dark eerie sound echoing throughout the cave. He felt alone... And he had no idea what happened either. The only thing he heard before blacking out were Melanie's screams. Just thinking about her made him a little upset for some reason... He was in a different universe... He was in a different world... A world where everything was altered!

"JAMES? ... MELANIE? ..." He called down the cave, hoping to hear a response back from his friends.

After waiting for a few, nothing ever came back... Except for a small scary growling noise that came from the dark ahead...

"No, this can't be real... How did I just get pulled through like th-" He kept on talking to himself, until he remembered what he told his friends earlier...

This cave has mysterious powers hidden inside it...

"Is-Is... Is it really true?" Alex sighed sadly.

At this point in time, he had no idea where to go, or how to get back to his friends... Everything was strange about this cave... And he needed to get back right away! He searched around the area for a bit, until he heard very loud footsteps approaching him from behind! When he turned around, the next thing that happened... Was another dark figure!

"Who're Yo-" Alex asked the strange figure, but he suddenly felt himself blackout instantly!

Everything went dark... And there was no sound at all... Nothing but a constant ringing sound in his ears... He ended up getting hit in the head by something, causing him to faint right away...

 _ **Some time later...**_

"Ooh... M-My head..." Alex groaned in pain.

He opened his eyes slowly and heard the peaceful rustling leaves coming from a tree nearby... He came back to reality and woke up immediately, freaking out about what happened to him back in the cave.

"Wha-" He tried to get up and move around, but something stopped him right away.

He looked down and found himself tied to a tree, along with his bag a few feet away from him leaning against a small red crystallized rock! Trying to squirm around, he tried to break free from the rope, but it was no use! He started breathing pretty hard, knowing that he couldn't do anything at all to defend himself! The last thing he remembered was getting hit in the head pretty hard by someone, but he didn't get the chance to see who did it!

"Don't take another step!" A very familiar voice popped up out of nowhere.

The voice came from behind him, so Alex immediately turned around to see who held him captive, but once he saw who the voice belonged to, his heart stopped beating!

"WHAT TH-" He screamed, but the figured jumped up and landed directly in front of him, startling him!

"I said DON'T MOVE!" The voice yelled at him once again.

The voice belonged to... Well... Alex couldn't believe it... But he saw HIMSELF! He was staring at himself, and he had absolutely no words to describe how he felt about it!

"Huh? No... It's not real! Zorua, I know it's you! Quit playing pranks on me, this isn't the ti-" Alex shouted at the look-a-like, but he was cut-off yet again...

"Wait a second... Y-You're me?" The mirrored Alex asked, examining him back.

"I-..." Alex had no words still... He was already confused enough as he was from earlier...

"Zorua, were you the one in that cave?" Mirror Alex wondered, getting closer to the real Alex.

"No! I'm not Zorua! I'm the real Alex!" Alex continued to shout back at the fake clone, giving him a killer look.

"What are you-" Mirror Alex asked him another question, but he suddenly stopped when Alex broke free from the rope!

"Hah! I'm free... Now tell me! Where am I and how did I end up here!" Alex yelled furiously.

"Woah woah buddy... For one, you're me... and two, I don't know! But what I DO know is that I'm getting out of here!" The mirrored version of himself spoke way too quickly for him to understand, and he suddenly took off at the speed of light to who knows where...

"WAIT!" Alex called for himself, but his mirror was already gone...

"Great! I'm going crazy..." He thought to himself, making his way over to his bag.

He quickly picked it up, putting it back on over his back, and then he looked around for anything else to find...

"H-How... How did I get here... Am I going crazy or something? Or am I dreaming about this place!" He complained, getting more confused about where he was at.

The world he was in was truly strange, everything was opposite... And the mirrored version of himself sounded pretty mean from the very start. The only choice he had left was to just explore and learn more about the cave... Maybe that would help him get closer to how he could get back to his own world.

"What am I supposed to be even do here, I just saw a clone of myself... The color of the crystals are different... and what did I even do to deserve this?" Alex looked up into the sky, freaking out a bit from everything that's happened already today.

He heard more rustling sounds coming from a nearby bush, and he backed away from it... Not knowing what to expect next! He suddenly heard two voices yelling at each other from the bush, and it was enough to make him back away even further.

"I'M DONE WITH YOU, WE'RE DONE! YOU ALWAYS DO THIS!" A feminine voice shouted.

"OH YEAH? GO AHEAD AND LEAVE THEN! IT WAS YOUR IDEA TO COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Another voice appeared, but it sounded like a male.

"I JUST WANTED TO EXPLORE THIS PLACE WITH YOU, EVERY TIME WE HANGOUT, YOU ALWAYS START AN ARGUMENT!" The feminine voice continued to scream.

"YEAH, BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT! YOU MADE ME RUN INTO A HUGE BOULDER EARLIER! AND IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT THAT WE GOT SEPARATED FROM THEM!" The other voice yelled back.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU JERK!" The female voice shrieked.

The rustling in the bush grew louder and louder, as it was getting closer and closer to Alex... He had no idea what was going on between the two, but he was ready to call out Braixen if he was in any danger. But as soon as the rustling stopped... Two Pokémon popped out of the bush, rolling on top of each other, and they looked like they were fighting to the death too! The two Pokémon that were revealed, shocked Alex out of his world... It was Eevee and Vulpix!

"NO, I'M NOT TAKI-" Eevee yelled on even more, but he stopped when he noticed Alex looking at him and Vulpix with a frightened face.

"Uh..." Vulpix noticed Alex too and they were still on top of each other, just staring at Alex's face...

"Y-YOU T-T-TALKED?!" Alex was freaking out from them.

"ALEX?" Eevee tilted his head and looked up to him, showing a confused look right back to him.

Alex turned around and started sprinting away, running from the two... But his direction was quickly blocked off from a large icy wall! The wall was about 10 ft. tall, and it stopped him right away... He turned around to look at Eevee and Vulpix in fear, as they were slowly approaching him calmly.

"We've been looking for you all over! Where did you go?" Eevee smiled, wagging his tail as well.

"You can talk!" Alex shouted at the eon Pokémon, backing up into the wall again.

"Well... Yeah? Are you alright?" Vulpix wondered, standing a few feet apart from Eevee.

"Shut up! He's my Trainer, not yours! I should be the one asking him that! Not you!" Eevee turned to yell at her rudely.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?" Vulpix screamed, getting ready to use one of her moves against him.

"YOU'RE GOING TO ATTACK YOUR ONE AND ONLY MATE?" Eevee just kept on raging at her.

"Oh my Arceus... Please help me!" Alex sighed, groaning at the two lovebirds fighting each other again...

"A MATE WHO'S ALWAYS RUDE TO ME!" Vulpix went ahead and shot a small icy ball from her mouth, directly towards him.

"A MATE WHO'S ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR YOU!" Eevee argued, using Swift to destroy the icy ball.

Both of the moves collided, and caused a very small explosion... It was something Alex never thought he'd see... Both of them fighting each other?

"Mates?" Alex mumbled... Thinking more about them being together...

"UGH! TAKE THIS! POWWDERR..." Vulpix had enough of him, so she was going to use Powder Snow to freeze him!

"ENOUGH!" Alex stepped into their little fight, and caused both of their hearts to drop.

His sudden shout interrupted their little moment, and he gave them both angry looks... They stopped fighting and they looked back to Alex, showing a lot of fear in their faces!

"You two shouldn't be fighting each other... And I'm not your Trainer... I'm... I'm from a different world..." Alex tried thinking of an answer to come up with, hoping they would understand him.

He knew he didn't belong here... Talking Pokémon? It was strange, and it didn't seem right to him AT ALL!

"But you ARE my Trainer! You just ran off after losing to Melanie earlier, and we've been looking for you all day long!" Eevee explained.

"Well I'm not... I can guarantee you tha-" Alex suddenly stopped talking when he heard Eevee mention Melanie's name.

"Melanie's here?" Alex asked back right away.

"Of course she is... She's looking for you too dummy! You ran off like a coward! It's just a simple loss, why do you always get so mad at her?" Vulpix asked him another question that he didn't know.

"I already told you before, I'm not from this world... All I'm trying to do is get back to my own world, so I can get back to my normal life..." Alex replied, groaning at both of them.

"If it's true... Then answer me one question! What're your Braixen's colors?" Eevee asked, smiling at Alex.

"Pfft... Easy question! Yellow, black, and white! Along with a pink bow on top of her head!" Alex answered confidently, knowing he was right.

"WRONG!" Vulpix screamed at him.

She made his confident smile fade into a large confused frown when he looked back at her.

"W-What? BUT... THAT'S THE ANSWER!" Alex complained, trying to backup his answer.

"No, you're wrong Alex... Your Braixen is purple, white, and black... And she doesn't wear a pink bow... The color of her bow is green!" Eevee corrected his answer.

"WHAT?! What kind of color combination is that? Braixen is yellow, not purple... And her bow is pink! I put the bow on her myself! Are you colorblind?" Alex yelled.

He knew that the mirrored Eevee wasn't his... Considering he still had Eevee in his Pokéball, which was still in his bag.

"No, I'm not colorblind... If I was then I wouldn't be able to see my mate's lovely hideous disgusting colored eyes!" Eevee gave a sly smirk back at Alex, backing away from Vulpix who was filled with rage again!

"GRR! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THA-" Vulpix yelled right back to Eevee, but Alex quickly cut her off by throwing a Pokéball into the air!

The ball opened, and a shining blue light shot right out of the device! It was enough to stop Vulpix from attacking Eevee again... Once the light finished shining, Braixen came right out, looking ready for battle!

"Braix!" Braixen was fully awake and alert for whatever was attacking Alex.

She looked down and noticed Eevee and Vulpix below her, just staring up at her in confusion...

"Brai?" Braixen turned around and looked at Alex for answers.

"We're in a lot of trouble girl... I got pulled into a different universe... And I have no idea how to get back to our own world!" Alex tried to explain to her so that she would understand what was going on.

She gave him a confused look as she stared back at Eevee and Vulpix again. She somewhat didn't believe her Trainer... She thought that he was pulling a prank on her or something...

"Braix, rai-rai, xen?" She crossed her arms, giving Alex a bit of an attitude.

"What is she saying?" Alex asked Eevee.

"She thinks you're playing a joke on us... AND WHY IS SHE YELLOW?" Eevee yelled back, demanding answers.

"He's... He's right, He's not from our world?" Vulpix wondered, looking as innocent as always...

"You're... You're actually right for once... He-" Eevee insulted her, making her angry again.

"YOU LITTLE-" Vulpix raged once again, but Alex stopped her before she could do anything.

"Can-YOU PLEASE STOP FIGHTING! THIS DOESN'T SOLVE ANYTHING! Look... Just please help me find my way out of this place, so I can get out of here." Alex begged for them to help him.

"We don't know where you came from! We're just trying to find the REAL Alex... Where is he?" Eevee demanded once again, giving Alex a killer look.

"He tied me up and left me against that tree over there, then he just suddenly ran off after I talked to him... I mean me!" Alex corrected himself.

"Well... We can make you a deal, if you help us find Alex and Melanie, then we'll help you get back to your own world... Deal?" Eevee offered.

Alex had no choice... It was either help them in order to get help... Or it was either looking around wasting time, not knowing where to go... He made up his decision and replied,

"Deal."

He walked up next to his confused partner, Braixen... And she didn't know how to process this... Neither did Alex... The two of them just followed Eevee and Vulpix, who were searching the area around for Melanie and his mirrored self. After a while, Alex began to get bored... So he started talking to his partner again.

"Hey girl, you think we should go back to that cave? I don't think these two would be much of a help... Even though they're technically our friends... But still, at the same time... They're not the Pokémon WE truly know back in our world." Alex sighed sadly.

As soon as Eevee and Vulpix were out of sight, searching in a nearby bush, it gave Alex the opportunity to flee away from the crazy duo! Braixen took his hand and dragged him along with her, running away from the area. Alex felt a little bad about abandoning them, but he needed to find answers... As quickly as possible! Once they were far enough from Eevee and Vulpix, Braixen suddenly bumped into another humanoid figure! She ended up tripping and falling over, as well as Alex stumbling soon after!

"Ah... Hey! What gives?" Alex shouted at the figure.

"Oh! My apologies!" A very familiar voice appeared from the figure.

The figure was a few feet away from Alex and Braixen, and once they looked up to see who it was, it made the world stop for them...

 _ **Upon seeing this certain person...**_

 _ **Stopped the world from spinning...**_

 _ **Upon seeing who..**_

 _ **Made their heart drop...**_

 _ **It was...**_

 _ **Faba...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokémon Sun & Moon OST - Aether Foundation Theme Extended: watch?v=i46XbkghAzc&t=273s)**_

"F-Faba!" Alex screamed, backing away from the Aether chief, who looked intimidating as always.

"Allow me to help you up at least!" Faba smiled down at him, holding his hand out for Alex to grab.

"What?" Alex mumbled, taking his hand anyway.

He didn't expect Faba to act like... This? He acted very strange, and Braixen was ready to attack Faba at any moment, giving him a death glare!

"Woah! Woah! Wait, I'm not here to cause trouble,I am simply just strolling along, looking for a special thing! Where're your two friends?" Faba continued to talk to him, giving him a freaky smile in return.

"I know what you're going to do, you're going to take Melanie's Vulpix away huh?! Well you're not gonna-" Alex started shouting at the chief, but he was already cut-off!

"Hm? I thought she wanted to keep her? That is why I let it go, don't you remember?" Faba was confused.

"W-Wha..." Hearing that only made Alex even more confused towards the psychotic man...

"I allowed you guys to keep her, as a gift!" Faba finished speaking.

This made no sense to Alex, the Faba he knew from his own world would never act like... This? He was usually always so... Demanding, cruel, mean, rude, and always giving Alex and his friends a hard time with Vulpix. But this Faba, let them keep Vulpix?

"Why... Why can't our Faba be this nice..." Alex sighed sadly.

"Hm?" Faba wondered what he was thinking, still smiling at him.

"Oh! Nothing, it's not important... Just thinking about something." Alex replied.

"About what? You seem... Different apparently. You're usually a rude little rascal to me, and you seem down. Are you feeling okay?" Faba asked him, getting onto his sudden change in behavior.

"The Alex from this world... Why is he rude?" Alex thought to himself.

He quickly lost his thoughts when Faba took a few steps closer to him.

"Your Braixen... I've noticed that she's... Not her usual color? Did you change her into a shiny Pokémon?" Faba wondered, examining Alex.

"I um..." Alex chuckled nervously, not knowing what to say back.

"Why're you acting so-" Faba spoke again, but Alex cut him off.

"Listen! I'm not from this world... I'm, I'm from a different world, I was just exploring Reflection Cave with my other two friends, but I got pulled through a mirror and I ended up here...I'm not the Alex you know... I just... *sigh* I just wanna go back home to my own real world." Alex explained it all.

"I've heard several stories of that happening to people in Reflection Cave... I wish I could help you, but I must go back to the labs unfortunately." Faba groaned, sounding like he didn't want to go back.

"Wait! You can't help me get back home? Please?" Alex asked, begging him.

"I'm afraid I can't... I have to go back to Lusamine, I was just taking a simple stroll around here, looking for some fresh air. I don't know if you're lying or not... Or who you truly claim to be, but I must go." Faba finished speaking.

He suddenly walked off towards the other direction, leaving Alex alone with his Braixen. After seeing him leave like that, it only made Alex feel a lot worse...

 _ **Until...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Eterna Forest - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Music Extended: watch?v=xr9KFynxBpA&t=1197s)**_

"HEY!" A feminine voice yelled at him from behind.

The sudden yelling startled Alex, and he quickly turned around to see who it was.

Upon seeing where the voice came from, Alex couldn't help but smile! It was Melanie!

"Melanie?" He asked, wondering if she was real or the mirrored version.

"Ugh, don't you 'Melanie!' me... Why did you run off after our battle? You coward!" She gave him an attitude, sounding very rude towards him.

Hearing that made his heart sink, it made him feel sad for some reason... And he didn't expect her to be so rude!

"Wait I-" Alex tried to speak again, but Melanie cut him of yet again!

"No! No! No! I don't wanna hear it! Thanks to you, Vulpix and Eevee got separated from us, you're going to help me find them whether you like it or not..." She continued to shout at him, looking very angry.

She grabbed his hand quickly and yanked him closer to her, walking with him through a different part of the forest.

"Ugh! Let go of me! I don't have time for this!" Alex tried to break free from her grasp.

"You're not going anywhere, until we find them bot-" Melanie spoke, but that same familiar voice cut-in out of nowhere again!

"You found her!" Vulpix screamed in joy.

She quickly ran to Melanie, jumping directly into her arms! Melanie let go of Alex suddenly, and caught Vulpix, hugging the life out of her!

"Vulpix! Oh! Thank Arceus you're safe!" Melanie laughed sweetly, petting Vulpix on her swirly head gently.

Hearing her happy all of a sudden was enough to remind Alex about the real Melanie... He was starting to miss her the most for some reason...

"Alex!" Eevee shouted next, entering the scene right on time!

Eevee ran up to Alex from behind, and started nuzzling his head against his leg, but he quickly stopped, backing away as he noticed Braixen soon after...

"Oh... It's you! We're you able to find a way back home?" Eevee wondered, tilting his head up at Alex.

"If I did, then I wouldn't still be here now would I?" Alex gave him a bit of an attitude.

"Hey! You don't talk back to your Pokémo-" Melanie barged her way into the conversation they were having, but she stopped talking so suddenly once she noticed Braixen standing awkwardly behind the two.

"Wait! Your Braixen-" She was about to ask him about the colors of his partner, but that only stressed him out even more...

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT FROM THIS WORLD!" Alex yelled into the air, feeling stressed.

"Huh?" Melanie wondered what he was saying.

"We should explain to her..." Vulpix suggested, hoping not to get Melanie upset.

"Explain!" Melanie demanded answers.

"Okay look! I'm not from here, or this world! I got pulled through a mirror in Reflection Cave, and I'm trying to find my way back home! The Alex you know ran off to who knows where! So I don't know where he is, but I need help... Please..." Alex explained it all, hoping that they would help him out.

"Well, you did make us a deal... So I guess we should help you back!" Eevee wagged his tail cheerfully, making his way up Alex's leg.

He finally climbed on up to his arm, then he jumped onto his head, looking as happy as ever!

"Wait so let me get this straight, He's... Not the real Alex we know and hate?" Melanie groaned, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Why are you so mean like this?" Alex gave her an attitude back, wondering why Melanie's mirror counterpart was like this.

"Because the real Alex we know, always gives up whenever he fights me! How do we honestly know if you're lying or not?" Melanie yelled right back.

"Eevee, you said that Braixen is suppose to be purple right?" Alex looked up at his mirror Pokémon.

"Well, yeah! But yours looks really different... Plus you don't act like the Alex we know! So it's pretty obvious you're new!" Eevee yawned, while laying his head down.

"Yeah, you know what else would be great! Me having a new mate!" Vulpix screamed.

"You take that back! You know you'd be lost without me!" Eevee argued.

"No! You're the one who would be lost without m-" Vulpix continued to scream her lungs out, until Alex interrupted her.

"WILL YOU ALL BE QUIEEEET! I JUST WANNA GO BACK HOME!" Alex shouted at everyone else.

"Ugh, let's just go and get it over with then..." Melanie complained, grabbing Alex's hand again and pulling him away to another part of the forest.

"Ah! W-Why do you hold on so tight! You're basically crushing my hand!" Alex tried freeing himself from her hard grasp.

"I don't care." Melanie replied back selfishly.

Braixen sighed at the two of them, she didn't know whether or not she was dreaming... But she followed along anyways...

 _ **A different time later...**_

"There's nothing here in this cave! Nothing at all! How are we supposed to get him back!" Melanie cried, freaking out.

"Calm down! I'm sure there's something in this cave... Maybe a riddle or a hint." James tried his best to keep her calm.

"How can I not calm down? We just lost our best friend to a magic mirror!" She proved him wrong.

James saw the opportunity to ask her this question for a while now... It was also something he's been catching onto lately too!

"Don't you mean, your 'Boyfriend?'" He chuckled at her, hoping to hear an answer.

"W-W-What!? B-Boyfriend? N-No!" Melanie shook her head rapidly, blushing hard in front of him.

"Come on! I know now is not the time, but it's obvious you have a crush on him!" James tried to get it out of her.

"Never! No no no! Ugh! Let's just go..." Melanie refused, walking on ahead of him, ignoring the question.

"Sure... It's obvious... Considering you cried when he vanished!" James told himself, believing that she truly DID have a crush on Alex!

He ran up to catch up to her, also hoping that they would find a way to get Alex back.

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

"Okay! Gah! Okay! Okay! Chill out for once!" Alex screamed for his life!

"No! You listen here, you're probably the reason we can't find him by now... What did you do to OUR Alex?" The mirrored Melanie was tugging at his arm, scaring everyone else with her loud screaming.

"I-I said I didn't do anything! Look, all we need to do is just go back to the cave, then maybe we'll find him somewhere there! That's where I last saw him before he took off from me!" Alex suggested.

"Lead me there... NOW!" Melanie continued shouting her lungs out, finally letting go of his arm.

"Fine! Come on, it's this way I think!" Alex ran away, leading them to where the cave was at.

"You THINK?!" Melanie yelled.

"Uh oh..." Alex mumbled, looking back at her while he was running.

Melanie started sprinting after him, looking ready to kill him! She was acting like a predator to him... And Braixen had a hard time just trying to save her Trainer's life!

 _ **Moments of being chased around later...**_

"Here! This is where I last saw him... He tied me to a tree with a rope, and then ran off once I tried talking to him!" Alex pointed towards the tree.

That same large red crystallized rock was there too, and Alex knew exactly where he was going now!

"You better hope he's around here, or so help me Arceus! I'll get James to come over here and-" Melanie started giving her attitude again, but Alex asked back,

"James is here too?"

"Of course he is... He's just training right now, what do you think this is anyway? A social talk? NO! Go lead me to the cave already!" Melanie shoved him to keep on moving forward.

Stumbling from her sudden push, Alex was starting to get to the point where he had enough of this... He chose to ignore it, and calmed himself down so he wouldn't make her any more mad at him. So he just kept on going, walking past the rock, and eventually making his way next to the big mountain. Melanie followed him the entire time, intimidating him half to death! After a while of walking, Alex finally made it to the cave's entrance! And there were smaller red crystal pieces along the way too!

"Pretty huh?" Alex smiled at her, giving Melanie a very happy looking look.

"Shut up and keep moving forward..." Melanie grunted, ignoring him.

He sighed heavily and then walked even closer to the entrance of Reflection Cave. Once he was just a few feet from entering though, he heard footsteps coming from his right!

"STOP THERE!" A voice shouted.

Alex turned to see where the voice came from, and sure enough... The voice belonged to himself... His mirrored self appeared out of nowhere, just like that!

"What do you think you're doing?" Melanie asked, watching as the mirrored Alex was making his way down from a rocky platform.

"What do you think YOU'RE DOING, HUH MELANIE?!" The mirrored Alex shouted back, finally approaching the group.

He noticed Alex, Eevee, and Braixen in front of him, just staring at him confused. Eevee was the first to jump off of Alex's head, and he jumped right onto the mirrored Alex's head instead!

"Alex!" Eevee giggled, licking the mirrored version's face.

"Stop licking me..." Mirror Alex told his Pokémon to halt selfishly.

"Alex! Where have you've been? I've been looking EVERYWHERE... Just for you!" Melanie screamed in rage.

"I've been waiting here this whole time, for this IMPOSTOR, to finally come here!" Mirrored Alex looked over to the real Alex and gave him a disgusted look of hatred!

"Impostor? Me? Look at you! I'm not even from this world, so how can I be fake?" Alex argued, backing himself up.

"Brai!" Braixen stepped in and stood up for her Trainer, giving the mirrored version a killer look soon after.

"Hmph... Impostor or not, I'm still better than you'll ever be!" Mirrored Alex crossed his arms, while holding a Pokéball in one of his hands.

"Not with that attitude you aren't... And that's all you've guys done to each other ever since I've got here! Eevee and Vulpix yell constantly! And YOU ESPECIALLY!" Alex yelled, looking at Melanie next.

He was getting mad from this whole thing... All he wanted to do was just get back to his own world, hoping he'd never have to see anyone of them again... He went ahead and ignored them all, making his own way inside the cave, along with his partner Braixen, following after him.

"Oh yeah? You're not going back in there anytime soon!" Mirror Alex grabbed onto Alex and pulled him back out.

At this point, Alex was just getting more and more frustrated with his counterpart... He didn't understand this world, or why he was even here in the first place!

"You're not going to stop me..." Alex rolled his eyes, ignoring his mirrored self and walking back into the cave again.

"Yes I am!" Mirror Alex raged, throwing the Pokéball into the air!

Once the Pokéball opened, his Pokémon came right outside, and landed in front of Alex's direction of travel, causing him to stop immediately!

"BRAAAII!" The Pokémon roared, suddenly appearing!

It was a Braixen, but it wasn't the same as Alex's Braixen... She was, well... A lot different looking than his! Mirror Alex's Braixen was colored purple, and she was wearing a green bow on top of her forehead between her ears. She was covered in dirt, and she looked pretty dirty and intimidating! And to top it all off, she had a little bit of a shine to her coat of fur! It was a Shiny Braixen!

"What?! Eevee was... He was right?" Alex thought to himself.

Just the thought of seeing her dirty and different colored made him even more confused about the whole world he was in... She was completely different...

"Like I said, get back or she'll blast you!" Mirror Alex continued to yell.

Alex rolled his eyes as he snapped back into reality, his Braixen was right beside him, looking ready to fight!

"Braixen, go ahead... Finish the other Braixen off with Psybeam..." Alex sighed, commanding an attack.

His Braixen went ahead and tried to fire a Psybeam at the Shiny Braixen, but the Shiny stopped her immediately by tackling her to the rocky ground!

"Rai?" Braixen was tackled to the floor, surprised from the sudden action.

"The only way you're leaving outta here is to beat me in a Pokémon fight!" Mirror Alex demanded him for a fight!

"A Pokémon fight? You mean a Pokémon battle!" Alex corrected his mirror.

"No, it's called a Pokémon fight... NOW THEN! Flair, use Psybeam." Mirror Alex commanded his Shiny Braixen.

Taking Alex and his Braixen by surprise, Mirror Alex's Shiny Braixen, Flair, immediately used the psychical move on Braixen!

"Raix!" Braixen was stunned by the attack, considering Flair was right on top of her.

"Hey! What're think you're doing? I wasn't ready!" Alex shouted angrily.

Braixen pushed Flair right off of her, and shot back a Psybeam in return! She got revenge and aimed directly towards her counterpart's leg! Once the move hit Flair's leg, she stumbled to the ground in complete shock!

"Gr..." Flair growled menacingly, looking ready to kill Braixen at any moment!

"Use the move again girl..." Alex finished commanding, watching as his partner shot another large Psybeam towards Flair's leg.

Without getting up or preventing to move, the move struck Flair in the leg again! Causing a huge explosion shortly after!

"GAAH!" Flair screamed out in pain.

"Flair!" Mirror Alex shouted at her, hoping she was still okay.

He discovered Flair resting on the ground, holding her leg in pain! She looked like she was going through a lot of agony, and she couldn't get up at all!

"What's wrong?" Mirror Alex wondered, walking up to check up on Flair.

"..." Flair didn't say a word back, she still continued to stare down Braixen intensely!

"You might as well give up... Just let me go back home now alright?" Alex told his counterpart, getting impatient about this whole thing.

He walked into the cave, along with Braixen, leaving everyone else behind!

"Did Flair really just lose? AGAIN? When're you going to fight smarter Alex... Maybe if you think before you do, then you'll have a chance to beat me as well!" Melanie laughed evilly at him!

"Do you see her fainted on the ground? No I don't..." Mirror Alex replied rudely.

"Well it doesn't matter anymore! I'd rather hangout with an Alex who's actually smart and can battle too... Not someone who just runs away after I beat them ONCE!" Melanie pointed out, crossing her arms.

She went ahead and started making her way towards the cave to join Alex, leaving Mirrored Alex behind!

"Come on Vulpi, And Eve, let's go help the real ALEX find his way inside the cave! It'll be so much fun!" Melanie offered the two little Pokémon, who were staring up at her.

"Count me in!" Eevee nodded, running after her.

"Okay!" Vulpix giggled and ran towards her Trainer next.

Seeing all three of them leaving him, only made Mirror Alex a lot angrier! Just before they could reach the entrance, he suddenly shouted out,

"Flair! Fiery Psybeam... NOW! Block their path!"

"FLA!" Flair screamed back, shooting a Psybeam directly above Melanie.

After firing that, Flair used Ember, and combined the two moves into one! The combo'd projectile kept on traveling and traveling at the speed of light! The projectile eventually collided with the roof of the entrance to the cave, and there was a huge explosion shortly after! Hearing the explosion from behind, Alex and Braixen turned around to see what was going on!

"Huh?" Alex shouted, looking back.

"We're going to help you out Alex!" Melanie screamed after him.

He watched as she grabbed Eevee and Vulpix off of the ground, sprinting as fast as she could to him. Rocks and boulders started caving in front the explosion, causing some to block off the entrance! Just before Melanie could get crushed by the boulders, she dived forward towards Alex, with Eevee and Vulpix hanging onto her for dear life! Once she finally made it into the cave with him, The entrance was completely sealed off! Leaving nothing but darkness everywhere!

"Raix!" Braixen screamed, pulling out her stick, and lighting it on fire so that they could see in the dark cave. There was smoke all around, surrounding them from the degree. When Braixen cleared the smoke away with her torch, Alex noticed Melanie laying on the ground, with Eevee and Vulpix still with her.

"You okay?" Alex quickly rushed over to help her up to her feet.

Melanie looked up at him straight in the eye, smiling widely!

"That... Was so... much, FUN! You just beat him in one blow! And I dove to save my life before I got crushed to death!" She giggled, not worrying about her appearance.

Her hair was covered with little pebbles in it, and she was also covered in dirt herself, but she didn't mind it at all!

"I was just getting tired of him trying to stop me from entering this cursed cave... I honestly just wanna go home, I didn't think you'd want to help me though." Alex smiled at her, remembering that cheerful smile of hers!

"Of course I'll help you! You're pretty cool anyways! Might as well right? So, where do we start?" Melanie chuckled, wondering what to do next.

"Beats me... I think if I find that same mirror that pulled me through, then maybe it'll lead me back into my world!" Alex suggested an idea, hoping it would work out for him.

"Yeah, let's go!" Eevee grinned, looking very excited.

"I agree! Let's help Alex!" Vulpix giggled, smiling happily at him.

"Wow, for once you both actually agreed on something..." Alex sighed in relief.

"Yeah, for once..." Eevee groaned, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Vulpix shouted back.

"Means that I don't have to listen to your bratty attitude." Eevee replied, laughing even more.

"WHAT!? I AM NOT A BRAT!" Vulpix argued, getting ready to pounce him off of Melanie's shoulder.

"Yes you are!" Eevee continued giggling like a psychopath.

"GRR! HOW ABOU-" Vulpix was about to jump out to attack him, but Melanie quickly screamed out,

"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU CALM DOWN! NO FIGHTING!"

Her scream startled Alex and Braixen, she sounded pretty mad at the Poké-Couple! She made them both shut up almost instantly too!

"Good... Now that that little fight is over, let's help our 'new friend' here." Melanie smiled, walking ahead of Alex.

"Please do..." Alex sighed, following her.

They started walking down the long narrow cave, without any signs of crystals whatsoever... Seeing the narrow pathway reminded Alex of his own world's cave as well. It was very identical from the entrance to the cave, so he knew what was coming next.

 _ **Play Song!: (Reflection Cave - Pokémon X & Y - Mirrored Version - SilvaGunner: watch?v=FBryCWavIOo)**_

"So... Why is... Your Alex so, rude and mean? I'm not like that in my own world." Alex wondered about his mirrored self, wanting to know more about this crazy reversed world.

"It's, it's hard to explain... Our worlds are different right?" Melanie asked back.

"Well, so far... They're both the same! Except, Pokémon don't talk where I'm from, and you even have a counterpart too..." He spoke back softly, blushing lightly as he said that last part.

She noticed the blush on his face and couldn't help but smile at the look of it!

"I have a counterpart too? What's she- I mean... what am I like in your world?"

"She... She's a really really nice person to travel with." He mumbled, just enough for her to hear him.

He felt weird talking about the Melanie HE knew, considering he was technically talking to her... But she had a different personality though.

"Nice? Sometimes I'm nice too... I guess? ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY I'M A MEAN PERSON?!" Melanie crossed her arms, giving him a mean look shortly after.

"No-Nonono! That's not what I meant! I uh..." Alex couldn't think of what to say next, not expecting her to shout at him so rudely!

That proved to him that she was definitely different... She didn't care about the way she looked, and she always gave everyone else rude attitudes!

"THEN TELL ME... WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME AS A PERSON?!" She continued to scream her lungs out...

"NOTHING!" Alex replied, scared of her now!

"TEEELLL MEEEEE!" Melanie shrieked, running at him with clenched fists.

His heart started pounding at the speed of light, worried about her punching his headlights out! Seeing her acting like this made Braixen completely shocked as well! Eevee and Vulpix fell from her shoulders while she was running, and they just watched as Melanie was chasing after Alex, like a hunter!

"AHH! NO! WAIT!" Alex took off even further ahead, trying to runaway from her!

"ALEEEEEEXXX!" She called his name angrily.

"RUN!" Eevee suggested, laughing his head off at the scene.

"You think this is funny?! WATCHING YOUR TRAINER LIKE THIS?" Vulpix interrupted his little moment, giving him an angry look.

"Of course I think it's funny babe! If he doesn't keep on running, then she'll kill him!" He continued laughing crazily!

"W-Wha? ...D-Did he just call me, 'babe?'" Vulpix blushed hard at the nickname, taken by surprise!

She was never called that, and that was the first time he actually called her by that nickname. It made her feel special for some reason, and she took the chance to walk up beside him, taking a few steps closer to him.

"You good?" Eevee grinned at her, following after the two humans beyond them.

"Y-Yeah. I'm okay... I'm okay..." She replied, with her blush remaining on her face.

Her heart started pounding as he nuzzled his head against her own head. It was something she never expected! He never really nuzzled her before in the past, but she found it 'cute!' In a good way!

"Good, I'm glad you're good... Cause if you weren't, then I wouldn't be able to make fun of your terrible swirlees on your head!" He chuckled at her, running off ahead to follow Alex and Melanie down the cave.

"H-HEY! YOU HUGE JERK! GET BACK HERE!" Vulpix screamed, sprinting up to her mate.

"Br? Braix? Brai Brai..." Braixen crossed her arms, shaking her head back and fourth, and sighing soon after.

She couldn't wait to return back to her own world... A world where she wouldn't have to see so many fights in an hour...

 _ **Time passing by later...**_

"I MEANT TO SAY YOU'RE A VERY NICE AND AWESOME GIRL!" Alex panicked, reaching that same old dead-end from last time!

"GOOD! I thought so!" Melanie giggled at him, dropping her attitude as if it were nothing...

"EEVEE!" Vulpix interrupted the two Trainers.

Eevee and Vulpix eventually caught up to them, along with Braixen too.

"Hey guys!" Eevee shyly waved, chuckling a bit.

He was taken by surprise when he heard loud footsteps coming from behind him! He quickly turned around to see who was running towards him, and it was Vulpix!

"Great... She's going to kill him!" Alex sighed heavily, rolling his eyes.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" Vulpix screamed at him, diving towards him!

She collided with him, pouncing him to the ground... Laying on top of him now! Eevee was taken by surprise, and tried to push her off of him, but she refused to let him!

"Ugh! G-Get off of me!" Eevee yelled angrily.

"No! I'm not letting you get away!" Vulpix struggled as he was trying his best to push her.

"Xen..." Braixen walked up to the duo, and picked Vulpix up by her tail.

She slowly lifted the Ice Type up, as Vulpix was freaking out!

"HEY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! LET GO OF MEEEE!" Vulpix screamed her lungs out.

"VULPIX! STOP ATTACKING EEVEE RANDOMLY LIKE THAT!" Melanie shouted.

She grabbed Vulpix from Braixen, and held her by her tail next.

"BUT HE-" Vulpix complained some more, but Melanie stopped her from talking.

"NO BUTS! And I'm not letting go of you EITHER! ...ALEX!" Melanie shrieked at him next.

"GAH! W-WHAT?!" Alex was startled, taking a few steps back from her.

"Where do we go next?" She asked sweetly.

Her sudden change from mean to nice was very strange to him... She was an interesting mirror counterpart to his friend...

"Um... If we keep going on ahead, then we can go from there." Alex answered, hoping not to make her any more mad.

"Gr... More walking?! UUUGHH!" She complained, acting like a brat.

"We JUST got here... Relax for ONCE!" Alex exclaimed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

But as soon as he finished saying that to her, he knew that he blew a fuse... He braced himself for her rude anger to pop up at any moment!

"Okay then! I'll get used to it! So when is- OOF!" She spoke softly again, but she ended up crashing into a wall!

Alex noticed her doing this and couldn't help but chuckle silently at her action!

"You okay?" He asked, just so that he wouldn't get her mad again.

"DO I LOOK OKAY TO YOU?!" She screamed all of a sudden!

"AH! OKAY I'M SORRY! ANYWAYS... There should be a um... A crack in the wall where we can fit through." He freaked out next, trying to escape from her raging rampage!

"I don't see it anywhere..." Melanie said, looking around the dead-end.

"No, there's a crack... Trust me, I've been here before." Alex wanted to prove her wrong.

He and Braixen started looking around the wall, but eventually... Melanie was right! There was no crack at all! Noticing that, only made Alex's heart pound slightly.

"So you're lying to me right?" Melanie let go of Vulpix and took a few steps closer to Alex, sounding a little mad.

"Wait..." Alex told her, trying to get her to be patient with him.

He went ahead and touched the wall with his hand, feeling it for a while. Once a few seconds had passed, he looked over to the left side... Thinking there was probably SOMETHING behind it...

"Braixen, go ahead and use Psybeam on this wall right here." Alex commanded his partner.

"Aix!" Braixen nodded slightly, opening her mouth to fire the Psychic move at the rocky wall.

Once the projectile struck with the wall, a huge explosion occurred from it! Leaving a bit of smoke behind it's path. Once the smoke finally cleared away, Alex opened his eyes again and looked at the broken wall. The rocky wall was destroyed! And he was right! There was a hidden pathway right behind it, with tons of red crystals everywhere beyond it!

"Woah!" Melanie gasped at the sight of the ruby red crystals.

"Yup, let's go!" Alex smiled at her being amazed by the look of the cave itself.

He walked on ahead through the wall, and finally made his way into the actual cave! The red crystals provided more than enough light, along with some patches of light coming through from the roof of the cave! It was beautiful, and it looked very similar to the blue version Alex last remembered. Melanie and Braixen came along next, with Eevee and Vulpix trailing behind them.

"It's... Actually, beautiful!" Melanie grinned, excited to see the crystals.

"Yup! That's one thing about this cave that I liked so much, it's really amazing huh?" Alex mumbled softly, enjoying the atmosphere around them.

"Who knew a place like this existed!" Melanie was still amazed by the cave.

She took the opportunity to take a few steps closer to Alex, until they were practically touching one another! She grasped his hand into hers lightly, and didn't wanna scare him too easily either. She held it gently, so that he wouldn't freak out or retaliate in any way. As soon as her hand made contact though, Alex was caught off-guard! Not expecting her to do such a thing! His own world's Melanie never grabbed his hand like that before... They never held hands with each other ever, so he blushed very lightly!

"W-Well... We going to go or no?" Melanie giggled at the sight of his blush, leading him on further ahead into the cave.

"Y-Yeah!" Alex mumbled nervously, blushing hard next.

He watched from behind as she was walking peacefully with him down the walkway. He couldn't help but stare at her in awe as her beautiful light brownish hair was in the way of his tunnel vision. He was enjoying this moment with her for some reason, but it still didn't feel right to him in someway...

"T-This... It doesn't... Feel the same way... As I would normally feel about the Melanie I truly know back in my world." Alex thought to himself.

Braixen, along with her fellow mirrored friends didn't know how to feel about this either. However, seeing them holding hands was enough to form a smile on Braixen's face.

"So..." Eevee started off a conversation with Vulpix, just to pass the time.

"Don't even say a word to me..." Vulpix frowned, refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I did to you earlier... I was just, messing around... You know?" He whispered quietly, trying to get her to talk to him.

That's when she stared directly into his eyes, still showing him the depressed frown on her face.

"You take things way too far... Always being rude to me, us always fighting each other... This is why I'd rather be with Zorua, then... You..." Vulpix mumbled slightly.

"Don't say such a thing! Look! I'm really sorry about it okay? I'll promise to stop..." Eevee's ears dropped upon hearing that from his mate.

She sighed heavily, but she shook her head in response...

"No... We're done. I've had enough from you today already... There's only so much I can take from you, and you're not even treating me like you love me." She spoke back.

Eevee's heart sank, he felt heartbroken, and he knew what was coming next... Something that would truly break him...

"W-W-Wait! Please don't leave! I'm really sorry about it! Vulpix! P-Please..." He tried his best to prevent her from doing 'it' to him...

"Nope... I've given you enough chances already in the past, we're done... D... O... N... E... DONE! Goodbye Eevee..." Vulpix sounded pretty sad when she said that sentence.

He noticed a small watery tear escaping from her left eye, and also heard her little sniffles too... His heart was officially broken, knowing that she... She dumped him... She didn't want to be mates with him any longer! He just walked emotionless... Not knowing how to feel about this...

"Please don't leave me like this! I'll change... I SWEAR!" Eevee panicked, sprinting up so that he could be next to her again.

He tried touching her with his paw, but she quickly turned her head around to scream at him!

"WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU? WE'RE DONE BEING MATES!"

He felt the need to cry in front of her, letting tons of tears fall from his eyes. He felt heartbroken, shocked, and depressed from what she was doing to him. She quickly stopped and turned her body around to look at his face. She saw the look of sadness on it, and she couldn't help but giggle at him next.

"W-Wha-*gasp* What's so f-funny?" Eevee asked, hiccuping in the middle of his sentence.

At this point, the tears couldn't stop coming down... They just continued and continued and continued, moving down and down and down... Never ending. She couldn't hold her giggle in, so she eventually burst into laughter from how he acted.

"S-STOP! LAUGHING! Thi- *gasp* This isn't f-funny! Get away from me already!" Eevee replied rudely, walking a little faster to get away from her.

"It's a prank! GOTCHA!" Vulpix laughed even harder, dropping to the floor and holding onto her stomach while laughing!

"WHAT?!" Eevee shouted angrily.

His heart-ache quickly faded away, and the frown on his face turned into an angry one instead! The tears stopped flowing eventually, and he gave her a killer look.

"I-It! It was a prank! You actually thought I was breaking up with you?!" She spoke back.

"YES! YOU ARE SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON!" Eevee tackled her playfully, making sure that he was on top of her so that she could stay pinned down to the ground.

"Wait! Don't! AHH!" Vulpix was terrified of him attacking her.

She felt one of his paws rubbing her small belly, causing her to laugh uncontrollably! He didn't stop until he thought she had enough! It was a prank that was gone WAY TOO FAR... And she made him cry in front of her... Seeing his reaction towards losing her as a mate, only made it clear of how much he truly cared for her!

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! I've had enough! Get-Ooof!" Vulpix lost her breath when Eevee jumped off of her.

He sighed heavily after getting off of her, eventually helping her back up to her feet. They started breathing heavily, not saying a word to each other for a couple more seconds...

"I hate you..." Eevee rolled his eyes, walking away from her so that he could catch up to the two Trainers ahead of him.

"I love you!" Vulpix called after him, running up to him.

They started walking together, as they followed Alex and Melanie down the cave... Even though they would normally argue and fight sometimes... They were still mates regardless of what they were fighting about. It was something they generally did, but it somehow brought them closer to each other in a weird way! Mates... Forever and always!

 _ **Back to the group...**_

"Okay, we've been looking everywhere for this 'special rock' and we haven't found anything yet!" Melanie complained, letting go of Alex's hand so that he could freely move.

"Well... From what I can remember... The crystal that pulled me through, looked more like a mirror than an average crystallized rock... Maybe if we find that same reflective crystal again, then I'm pretty sure I can go back through it to get to my own world! Let's just keep on exploring for a bit, maybe it's further down or something..." Alex answered, hoping that his idea was right.

He certainly didn't want to spend the rest of his life living in a world where there were two of him! Especially considering that the mirror world's personalities were switched around! But just remembering his mirrored self, made him think more about what HIS personality was, and how he was different in this world, than the normal one.

"How am... How am I different here?" Alex wondered, wanting to know more about himself.

"What do you mean?" Melanie was curious to see what he was meaning to ask.

"About the Alex YOU know... Why is he so... Well, rude, and mean?" Alex finally got to the point.

"He's always like that... I guess it has something to do with me always beating him whenever we have a Pokémon Fight with each other." She answered, putting her hands behind her head, walking casually.

Seeing her do that reminded him of her Pancham, he usually did that all the time whenever they were travelling on long routes together. It made him miss the Melanie he knew back in his world... He shrugged it off and proceeded to ask more questions about himself.

"In my world, we call them Pokémon Battles... But he looked pretty upset and angry that I took out his Pokémon in one shot..." Alex sighed, remembering the battle before the cave.

"Yeah, his Braixen is actually pretty weak... Honestly, she'd rather roll around in mud outside on a rainy day!" She giggled upon mentioning Flair.

Hearing that only made Alex and Braixen look at each other for a few seconds, before turning back to her. Alex didn't expect to hear that about Braixen's counterpart. Usually his partner always cared about how she looked, and she absolutely hated getting any spec of dirt on her fur!

"I bet your Braixen doesn't do that huh? Her fur looks nicely groomed!" Melanie gave him a sly smirk, noticing his partner's fur.

"Braix-en!" Braixen nodded in agreement, giggling from the compliment she received!

"Yup! It's something she really cares about! If I forget to brush her fur down if it's messy from a battle, then she'll kill me... Literally!" Alex put an arm around his partner's shoulder, smiling happily with her.

"Xen!" His partner nodded her head, laughing with him.

"Well, that must be nice... You two look like you have a lot of fun together! The Alex you saw earlier... He's just, well... You're different, and he doesn't really care about how his Braixen looks. She's usually always dirty, along with him... And I can't get these two below me to stop fighting each other..." Melanie looked down at Eevee and Vulpix, holding each other's paws.

Alex looked down at the adorable duo-couple. Once Eevee and Vulpix noticed everyone staring at them, they blushed lightly, but they didn't seem to mind. Eevee took the opportunity to nuzzle his head against hers! Then, Vulpix went ahead and gave Eevee a quick kiss on the cheek, causing his blush to grow even darker!

"Will you two promise never to fight again?" Melanie asked the couple, touched by their little romantic moment with each other.

"No." They both answered back, giggling like children!

"Ugh... Well at least you both are getting along fine this time, what made you guys fight earlier anyway?" Melanie wondered about their little fight.

"I ended up getting pushed down a hill from a very special someone..." Eevee rolled his eyes, remembering what happened while he was looking for Alex.

"Shut it... We we're trying to find Alex after he abandoned your fight." Vulpix covered his mouth with her paw so that he couldn't speak anymore.

"Oh yeah... That..." Melanie sighed heavily.

"He actually left a battle? That's something I wouldn't EVER do..." Alex was surprised to hear that from the Ice Type Pokémon.

"He gets really mad at me because I keep on beating him whenever we fight, he's just... Very, very annoying. He ran off earlier, and we split up so that we could look for him, and that's eventually how you and I met." Melanie gave him a warm smile, causing him to blush when she pushed a strand of hair back over her ear.

He loved seeing her do that for some reason, it was something he missed from the Melanie back in his world! He couldn't wait to go back and see her again... Everything reminded him of her apparently!

"So that's why he seemed pretty mad when I first met him, he tied me up and left me there... Who knows what could've happened to me... I could've been kidnapped or attacked by a large Pokémon." Alex sighed, disappointed with his mirror.

"Which is why I hate him too... I'm sure you know James then right?" Melanie wanted to know.

"Yeah, of course I do... He's a really nice buddy to travel with." Alex smiled, remembering James next.

"Pfft... Over here, he's exactly like Alex... except, he only focuses on making Alex angry by asking him to fight all the time." She chuckled silently.

"I'm just a little disappointed that my counterpart is like this... He almost crushed you by those rocks back at the entrance too!" Alex reminded her.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time... He's crazy! You can tell he is." Melanie giggled at what she just said.

After travelling down the cave for a while longer, the first thing that Alex noticed up ahead was a very shiny glowing ruby colored crystal rock! His heart started pounding quickly as he practically sprinted to the large rock. Once he finally reached it, along with Braixen, they examined the rock! It was very reflective and shiny, and it was large too! Alex gasped as he remembered the same blue crystal he found, before he got transported into the reflected world. Melanie along with Eevee and Vulpix caught up to him, wondering what the mirror was in front of him.

"What's that?" Melanie tilted her head, taking a few steps closer to the mirrored rock.

"It's... It's! It's the same crystal I remembered back home! This is definitely the one that grabbed me in the first place!" Alex exclaimed happily.

He turned around and saw the look of sadness on her face. Her happy smile quickly faded, and it kind of made him upset too...

"Are you okay Melanie?" Alex asked, wondering what was wrong with her.

"N-Nothing... It's just, I'm honestly going to miss you a bit. You're better than the Alex back there..." Melanie sighed sadly.

"I'm sor-" Alex felt bad for her now, and he wanted to apologize for leaving her so soon... But he was cut-off from her.

That sad expression grew into a happy one after she winked at him really quick.

"That doesn't mean I can't change him, right?" She giggled.

He found her giggle cute, and he couldn't help but notice a light pink blush on her cheeks either! He quickly gave her a short hug before letting go, to kneel down to Eevee and Vulpix next.

"Go for it... I'm sure you can change him... Just don't be so rude to him okay?" Alex looked up at her, hoping she wouldn't get angry at him.

"I... I can try." She replied, not getting angry at him for once.

"Good! And you two..." Alex focused on the couple below him.

"Hm?" Eevee was curious, wagging his tail against Vulpix's tail.

When his tail touched hers, Vulpix started brushing her tail back against his, and she continued to nuzzle her head against his lovingly!

"Make sure you both take of each other... Especially you Eevee..." Alex chuckled to himself.

"I have to take care of her? But she's crazy!" Eevee sighed playfully.

"Shut up..." Vulpix rolled her eyes, continuing to nuzzle him.

"Love you!" He replied, hoping to make her forget about what he said to Alex.

"Ugh... You're lucky I love you too..." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek again, blushing heavily.

"Brai-braix!" Braixen couldn't help but laugh at them together.

Alex smiled and stood back up again, to say his goodbyes to them all. He looked around at the mirror and proceeded to touch it!

"Guess this is goodbye then huh?" Melanie asked curiously.

"Yeah, it was really nice getting to travel with you too in this cave... I really do appreciate it you know, thank you Melanie! Thank you so much!" Alex thanked her, and grabbed Braixen's hand so that he wouldn't get separated from her.

"Hopefully you guys can deal with him again..." Alex mumbled, talking about his counterpart self.

"We'll find a way to deal with him, like we always do." Eevee laughed.

"Good, anyways... Goodbye guys!" Alex waved back at them, walking closer to the mirrored crystal again.

As soon as he was about to touch the mirror with his freehand, it was at that very moment... Where everything came to an end... Before he could touch the mirror to get back to his home-world... The crystal mirror suddenly cracked, and shattered into a million pieces out of nowhere! The loud shattering sound echoed throughout the cavern, and it startled all of them as it continued echoing!

"What the?" Alex gasped at the sight of the reflective portal breaking in front of him.

He turned around after he heard loud footsteps coming their way! Once he turned around to see who it was... It was someone he definitely didn't want to see ever again! It was his counterpart... Alex, along with Flair right beside him, both giving him serious looking death glares!


	14. Ch 14, A Reflected Still Lost?

_**Ch. 14, A Reflected Still Lost?**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokemon X/Y Reflection Cave OST (line in recording): watch?v=2uV4aYM2CkM &t=43s)**_

"Melanie calm down!" James started off.

They were still searching through the cave, and Melanie was starting to freak out because the cave itself had many different walkways and pathways that lead to other parts! They couldn't figure anything out about the cave, other than the large crystals everywhere else.

"I'm calm!" Melanie sounded as if she wasn't alright...

"You don't sound okay... Look, we'll find him eventually! What if we-" James spoke softly, but she cut him off.

"What if we what? *sighs heavily* What if we never find him... What if we never get him back." She mumbled quietly.

He didn't say a word back because he wanted her to continue on with her response.

"He's... He's the one person who actually makes me feel... Safe from those Aether guys, and I-I can't fight them on my own, not without him or you. We're all a group! Forever a group, forever together!" She finished giving her speech.

"I know how you feel about all of this happening so suddenly... But listen to me, we'll get our friend back, I promise! We just have to keep on looking further down okay?" James offered.

He saw a smile reappear on her face, as she wasn't feeling worried anymore! He went ahead and led her onto a different path, hoping that he would figure out something to do next. He was just praying to Arceus that nothing else bad would happen to them.

"Hm..." James rubbed his chin, thinking carefully.

He reached an intersection that had three other pathways on them. One of them led further ahead into the darkness, the second one led upstairs, and the third one to their right led downwards deeper into the cave!

"Where should we go?" Melanie asked, thinking about the choices they had.

"I'm guessing if we choose the pathway on the left, then it'll be like a maze... Up, probably leads outside of the cave, and maybe if we go down then we'll probably find more clues or some-" James started analyzing each of the paths, but Melanie stopped him instantly.

"Downwards it is then..." She interrupted, going in front of him to choose the path on the right.

"Ugh... I've got a bad feeling about this place already, I knew we shouldn't have come here! We should've just walked around the mountain..." James sighed, feeling concerned for her to go down there alone.

He didn't mind about that, so he just shrugged it off anyway and continued to follow her deeper into the cave. The path started getting steeper and steeper as they followed the staircase down.

"Uuugh! Why can't this place have better staircases, I feel as if I'm going to slip off any momen- AHHH!" She quickly screamed after saying her statement, with her foot slipping off of a slippery rock!

"MELANIE!" James shouted, grabbing onto her shirt as she was about to fall down the slope of the stairs.

"D-Don't think about letting go of me!" Melanie cried, trying to keep her balance.

He slowly pulled her back up, but there was a very unusual presence right behind them! James turned around to see who was behind them, and it was a group of smaller Pokémon!

"What the!?" James gasped upon seeing them inches apart from him, and Melanie turned to see who it was too!

"What the heck are those?!" Melanie screamed out loud, scared for her life.

The big group of small Pokémon were glowing! Their body's were rocky, and they had little blue glowing reflective crystals on them too! Their eyes lit up in the darkness, and they were definitely angry looking!

"CAAAAAAAAARBII!" All of them shrieked at the two Trainers, startling them!

They all jumped directly up towards James, bumping into him! As soon as they collided with him, he lost his balance from all of the shoving, eventually letting go of Melanie!

"NO! AH!" Melanie screamed her lungs out, falling down the steep slope!

James fell down with her, and both of them gradually kept on falling and falling! They tried everything that they could to stop themselves from falling, but it was no use! They just kept slipping down, free falling eventually!

"JAAMES!" Melanie called for him.

"H-HOW DO WE STOP OURSELVES!" James yelled back, panicking!

"I-I don't OOF!" Melanie lost her breath once her body struck a large crystal!

She instantly stopped slipping, and she was stuck on the rock! While James kept on sliding down, eventually passing by her unconscious body!

"Melanie? MELANIE!" He shouted pretty loud, trying to wake her back up again!

The next thing he knew was darkness enclosing around his vision! As he plunged even further down into a dark hole! With no way to stop himself, he was completely blind! It was pitch black, and all he heard were the angry crying voices of many Carbink! It suddenly stopped once he heard a, "THUD!" Crashing sound! He hit his back pretty hard on something... And he felt himself losing consciousness! He soon fell asleep, fainting from the impact and the adrenaline in his veins slowly faded away...

 _ **Another Icy-Time later...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (The Secret Side of the Aether Paradise - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=_YpHz4vZtxc)**_

"I cannot believe this! YOU ALL LET ME DOWN! Do you have any idea how much that Vulpix means to us? Lusamine is going to checkup on how she's doing, and wait until she finds out her Vulpix was kidnapped by some puny weak Trainers!"

"Sir, we-" An Aether worker started to back himself up from Faba's angry wrath, but his commanding chief already blocked him off from talking!

"NO! YOU LISTEN HERE! YOU'RE GOING TO FOLLOW THEM AND YOU WILL BRING THAT VULPIX TO ME RIGHT AWAY!" Faba continued raging at the workers in front of him.

He and Mark, along with their Pokémon, were finally free from the large icy block Vulpix froze them in... He was still in Brackish Town, and he came back into reality after realizing that his workers we're unable to stop Alex and his friends from leaving the town. There they stood, nervous and scared to hear his loud yelling... He looked as if he was ready to kill someone, and Mark was even nervous too... Never seeing Faba act like this before in the past.

"Sir, the Vulpix froze us and trapped us in a huge pile of snow! How we're we supposed to expect-" Another fellow worker tried backing his co-worker up, but Mark cut them off!

"No explanations... You should've already had your Pokémon out, ready to battle, and ready to expect anything! Those brats already got away didn't they? Faba, what's the next closest town from here? I'll go and follow them, and I will bring Vulpix back to safe hands." Mark offered the chief.

Faba looked at his wrist-gadget device, and pressed a couple of buttons on it. Once he located the 'Map' app, there was a big holographic picture of Kalos, showing the entire region! He examined the map for a moment, while searching for Brackish Town, as well as other towns around it.

"Hm... What was that boy's name again? Alex right?" Faba wondered curiously, looking over to Mark beside him.

"I think so..." Mark nodded slightly, waiting for an answer.

"He looks like the kind of Trainer who would-" Faba started to speak again, but a voice interrupted him from behind!

"Sir! I have an update on the Trainers you're currently looking for!" A female Aether Worker sounded happy, and serious at the same time.

"Ah, now there's something I'd love to hear for once!" Faba listened to the female worker.

"The boy you're talking about is collecting Gym Badges along the way in order! The next gym for him would have to be located in Shalour City!" The worker explained the info to the chief.

"Very good news indeed! Um..." Faba rubbed his chin, trying to figure out her name.

"Emily!" The worker gladly responded back to her chief.

"Good job Emily, I'll be sure to give you a bonus when we get back to the lab, other than that... THE REST OF YOU GO AFTER THEM! GO TO SHALOUR CITY AND GET VULPIX BACK! NOW!" Faba ordered the rest of the workers beside her.

They didn't have to be told twice either, they immediately took off at the speed of light, leaving the three of them alone.

"Now that that's done... Mark, I want you to go there too. Those workers are weak, so give them some backup. Seven against one is good odds, so they'll have to give Vulpix back." Faba commanded Mark next.

"Yessir!" Mark saluted to the commanding chief, immediately following after the workers.

Once he was gone, Faba turned over back to Emily, wondering how she got that information about Alex.

"Emily right? I'm not very good with names... But that Alex kid, how will we know for sure that he's going to Shalour City next?" He asked curiously.

"I ran into him in Geosenge Town. He knew that you guys were still here frozen, so I just assumed he was headed towards Shalour City, past Reflection Cave." Emily happily answered, bowing down to him.

"Good, in the meantime... I have to head back to lab to do our daily report to the president, now I just have to find a way to avoid having her find out Vulpix was kidnapped." Faba mumbled to himself.

"So what should I do then sir?" Emily didn't know what to do next.

"Just keep me posted on more info about them, they can't keep the Vulpix forever you know... Or else we're in deep trouble if Lusamine finds out. We should be able to stop them, we have more powerful Pokémon then they'll ever have!" He gave her more orders.

"Right away sir!" Emily respected the chief and started heading towards the direction where her fellow co-workers went off to.

"Good... They'll soon see... They should've never messed with us, that girl and her friends are going to pay big time!" Faba chuckled to himself evilly.

He started walking back to the lab, thinking of some way to talk to the president if she were to ask about how her Vulpix was doing.

"Now all I have left to do... Is to talk to Lusamine, I hope nothing goes wrong during this conversation..." Faba thought, starting to get nervous.

 _ **Another moment in time...**_

"WHAT HAVE YOU'VE DONE?! HE WAS JUST ABOUT TO GO BACK INTO HIS WORLD!" Melanie screamed.

Ever since the mirror shattered in front of Alex back in the Reflected world, Melanie was immediately filled with rage, staring down a certain someone... Mirror Alex and his partner Flair, destroyed the portal! Leaving Alex no way of escaping back into his home world.

"I'm doing what I must, he doesn't deserve to go back to his own world. Our battle isn't finished yet!" Mirror Alex argued back.

"You didn't have to destroy the portal though! What's wrong with you? You're such a jerk you know that right? How else is he going to return back home?" Melanie continued to scream, her blood was boiling!

"Yeah, I used to look up to you as my Trainer, but Melanie is a much better person than you are!" Eevee agreed with her.

Alex stepped into the conversation as well as Braixen too, giving their counterparts death glares!

"You wanna battle us? THEN FINE... Braixen, use Psybeam!" Alex commanded, having his partner attack by surprise.

"Braix!" Braixen followed his command, and shot the Psybeam attack directly at Flair!

Flair didn't expect the sudden attack, nor did Mirror Alex, and the Psybeam eventually collided with Flair, causing a bit of damage towards her!

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Mirror Alex shouted angrily.

"You're the one who destroyed the mirror in the first place!" Alex argued back, feeling very upset towards his counterpart self.

"Ugh! Forget about it! Flair, use Scratch!" Mirror Alex began thinking of a strategy to use against his opponent.

Immediately, Flair sprinted towards Braixen, growing long sharp claws from her hands. Seeing this, didn't worry Alex one bit... He knew what was coming next, so he wanted Braixen to counter the attack with another Psybeam!

"Psybeam..." Alex groaned in annoyance.

After hearing from her Trainer, Braixen used the psychic move once again on her counterpart. However, Mirror Alex had a strategy to use... Everyone watched as Flair did a couple of flips, jumping in midair, dodging the move! Braixen braced herself from the Scratch attack, waiting for Flair to jump on her! As soon as Flair leaped to pounce her, Braixen quickly ducked down, evading the attack easily! Flair missed her pounce, and ended up sliding across the rocky floor, not expecting Braixen to dodge her move so suddenly!

"Pfft... You're really going to attack like that? I'll hand it to you, you dodged the Psybeam move, but that's not how you do it... Watch and learn! Braixen, use Scratch and do the same thing back." Alex yelled another command.

Braixen did the exact same thing back to Flair, using the same tactic that she used against her, flipping all over the place, and jumping around like a crazed maniac!

"Brai Brai!" Braixen giggled adorably, just before leaping towards Flair, showing a confident smirk!

Flair didn't have time to react, so Braixen went ahead and landed on top of her, pinning her down to the ground.

"FLAIR! PUSH HER OFF OF YOU!" Mirror Alex shouted in rage.

Just before Flair could try and push Braixen off, Braixen sat up a bit, quickly pulling out the stick from her tail, which immediately caught on fire! Once the stick was out, she held Flair down with the weapon, holding it to her neck to prevent her from breaking free!

"WHAT!?" Mirror Alex was instantly shocked!

"Don't bother fighting... Just give up!" Alex called out.

He was hoping that he wouldn't have to battle any longer, realizing that he was just wasting his time on a pointless battle...

"Yeah, cause my good for nothing partner is terrible at fighting!" Mirror Alex complained, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms in the process.

Hearing that struck Flair's heart almost instantly, she didn't expect to hear such a thing from him! Mirror Alex looked over to Eevee next, who was right beside Vulpix.

"And you! What're you doing to help me here? I thought you were apart of my team! And here I find you, just cuddling with your annoying weakling bratty girlfriend!" He continued shouting rude words towards the Pokémon in front of him, acting selfish in a way...

"W-What?" Vulpix gasped at the insult, getting upset from it.

Seeing Vulpix react this way only made Eevee more angry at his Trainer, he wasn't going to allow him to insult her like that!

"DON'T YOU DARE INSULT HER LIKE THAT! SHE'S NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO YOU!" He stood up for Vulpix.

"Just like how you guys have never done anything for me? You're all crazy! ESPECIALLY YOU!" Mirror Alex grunted in response, staring down Melanie pretty hard.

"NO! YOU LISTEN HERE, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S CRAZY! JUST GET OUT OF HERE! YOU'VE CAUSED ENOUGH TROUBLE ALREADY HAVEN'T YOU?" Melanie stood up for herself, trying to get him to listen to her.

"I'm not leaving... And the only thing I regret from my entire journey with you is YOU BEING IN MY LIFE!" Mirror Alex insulted her pretty harshly.

Hearing that made Melanie gasp right away, the anger inside of her was boiling red, and she started taking a few steps closer to him, looking very intimidating too! Once she reached him, she immediately slapped him pretty hard across his face, causing him to stumble back a bit!

"AH! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM YOU PSYCHOPATH! YOU GOT PROBLEMS!" He continued to shout back at her.

You could hear his loud yelling for miles... He was getting pretty loud, to the point where Alex had enough of his counterpart.

"You're a terrible person, I hope you know that! And don't you DARE call her that either!" Alex screamed his lungs out, running up to his mirrored self.

As soon as he reached him, he shoved him down to the ground pretty hard, causing him to land on his back painfully! The only thing Mirror Alex could do was just to sit there, looking up at Alex, Melanie, and everyone else too. He was in a lot of trouble now...

 _ **Back to Aether...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (The Secret Side of the Aether Paradise - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=_YpHz4vZtxc)**_

"Okay Faba... Think hard! THINK HARD! GAAAHH!" The executive branch chief stomped his foot on the grassy ground.

He was angry, upset, and confused now... He's been like this ever since Vulpix was taken away from him.

"Why did it come to this? Did I do something to deserve this? What am I going to tell Miss Lusamine..." He tried staying calm about the entire situation he got himself into, but he ended up losing his sanity slightly.

"Those little twerps aren't going to get away from this! Mark my words, I'LL GET HER BACK!" Faba yelled out loud!

His shouting was louder than a Loudred... He scared off other Pokémon around the trees, as they started to flee away from the angry chief! Then he started to think carefully for a minute... About how this happened in the first place!

"Hm..." Faba thought, rubbing his chin at the same time.

That's when he remembered Lillie and Melanie when they were back in the labs. He remembered Cosmog, Vulpix, and Eevee too.

"That's it... That's the answer to my question, it was all Lillie's fault! That girl is so-UGH! She's going to pay for this... This would've never happened if I hadn't had showed her Cosmog! Then I guess that leaves her the one to blame... If Lusamine tries to blame me, then I'll have a backup plan! AHAHAHAHA! IT'LL WORK OUT PERFECTLY FINE!" Faba started talking to himself again.

He started walking further down the forested path, until he came back into that same old opening he remembered! There was a large white building in front of him, and it signified the Aether's Lab building! He grinned evilly, thinking his plan would work against the President. He knew Lillie was her daughter, and that she wouldn't believe him, but he had proof to show her! Once he reached the building's entrance, he was greeted by the two Aether guards standing by the doors.

"Greetings Sir, Were you able to find-"

"NO! I'm in a bad mood enough as it is... I have a meeting that I have to attend to with the President, unless you two care to join me? You both are the ones who allowed Lillie into the facility with the thief in the first place..." Faba interrupted their sentence.

He let that sink in for a while, noticing the concerned expressions on their faces.

"I take it as a no then... Carry on and keep guarding this place, AND FROM NOW ON! Before you let anyone who is not apart of Aether inside, you must let me know before doing so! Understand?" Faba tilted his head, with his hands in his lab coat's pockets.

"Yes sir!" Both of them bowed to him, paying him their respects.

"Good, keep on guarding." Faba ordered, walking ahead of them and through the building's doors.

Once he got into the lobby, he looked around it for a quick moment, suddenly remembering that fateful day... He didn't want to get reminded of Melanie just disappearing out of the blue during their first encounter with each other, so he immediately made his way over to the closest elevator on the right side of the lobby. As soon as he reached the elevator, he casually walked into it, with the door closing shut instantly right behind him.

"Grr... When are they going to fix these doors? They should close slowly... Not instantly! Otherwise I might end up getting my hand cutoff!" He complained about the elevator, groaning in annoyance.

He looked at the button panel to the elevator building's floors, and pressed the button that read, "Cells". It was a name that would give you a cold shiver down your spine... Just thinking about it too... It was a place you didn't want to end up in. The elevator started going down each floor, insanely quick too! It felt like an amusement park ride, and Faba was enjoying it quite nicely! Loving the sound that it made whenever it passed a floor!

"She'll find out..." He continued to talk to himself like the maniac that he was.

Just thinking about Lillie only made him think of Vulpix... And just thinking about Vulpix only reminded him of Melanie and her friends. He clenched his fists in anger, upset over the fact that Vulpix froze him and Mark like that. He was defeated so easily from a trick like that? Then he started thinking about Eevee and Zorua.

"They had a Zorua too... That'll be another great test subject! Eevee and Zorua will be ours to protect! Those thieves don't even deserve to have Pokémon on them, no excuses whatsoever! I can't even believe they froze me in that block of ice! They're going to pay for it though... ESPECIALLY Lillie and her 'precious assistant' Good thing we're almost done finishing up that one gadget! Just needs to go through the testing phase, and then we'll make their Pokémon pay too! I just don't understand how their Pokémon even like them! They're all just thieves... Heartless, taking a Vulpix away from us. All we're trying to do is make the world better by saving and protecting Pokémon from thieves like them! Especially from Pokémon Hunters... Selling them for money? It's not right at all... Not one bit..." He continued on.

They were the enemy to him, and the more he thought about Alex and his friends, the more he hated them with all of his guts. He needed to find a way to get back at them, so he began thinking of the master plan!

 _ **Seconds later...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Aether Paradise Labs / Basement - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=dg4XjamZCx8)**_

There was a loud beeping sound coming from the elevators button panel, and the doors immediately opened wide! The sudden metallic sound of the doors opening startled Faba for a second, but he quickly recovered from it, and proceeded on towards the long dim-lit hallway. The long hall was dark, and on the sides of the room, there were several other small rooms with metallic bars on the side of them! There were metallic doors next to the bars too, and it looked very similar to a jail cell. These rooms were only used for people who would misbehave, or catching criminals trying to sneak into their lab facility. They've caught some teenagers before, and kids too, but they didn't let them very easily without teaching them a lesson first.

"Hm..." Faba had his hands behind his back, walking creepily, passing by each cell.

There was only one particular person in the cell... At the very end of the hall too. Once he reached the end of the cell hall, he looked over to the last room, and inside, revealed Lillie, who was sleeping peacefully on one of the beds that were made for the cell. The beds weren't very comfortable, there were fancy toilets of course, but that's all that was in the cell rooms, nothing else... Just two pieces of furniture, with nothing to do inside.

"Hmph... Yeah go ahead, sleep like the peaceful 'cute' little girl that Lusamine claims you are... You betrayed us, by kidnapping Cosmog and taking him outside, and causing Vulpix to be stolen as well!" Faba mumbled silently.

He took a few steps closer to the cell, and pounded his fist on one of the bars as hard as he could! They made a loud chattering "RIIING!" Sound to them, as each of the bars started to rumble back and fourth against each other!

"WAH! WHO? What?" Lillie was startled half to death, and got up from the bed immediately!

She turned around to look at the bars and noticed Faba there, creepily staring her down with those vicious looking eyes in the darkness! Her heart was beating rapidly, and she refused to look at him straight in the eye.

"Look at me..." Faba whispered, trying to calm her down from his sudden rude interruption.

"W-What... Do you want..." Lillie replied, crossing her arms in response.

"You know exactly what I want child, all I want is-" Faba closed his eyes, speaking back to her.

"You're not getting help from me if that's what you're asking... And don't call me a child, If anything, you're the one who's acting like a child, freaking out over Vulpix." Lillie interrupted him from talking, giving him an attitude.

"I used to look up to you, you know that right? I respected you because you were Lusamine's daughter, I gave you as much freedom as you could possibly imagine here in the labs, it's a shame that I had to put you in these cells, alone with nobody around for you to talk to either." Faba shook his head.

"Well get over the fact that Vulpix is in a better place, with better people... She's finally happy that she's no longer stuck here for the rest of her life, just like all the other Pokémon in these labs! You caged them up, not giving them any love or affection of any kind! That's why the Pokémon disrespect you and the other Aether scientists!" She argued back.

"Is that what you truly think about us? We're abusing Pokémon? We feed them, we bathe them, we-" The chief started to speak again, but quickly stopped after he noticed Lillie's face.

She had a sad look on her face, as if she were about to cry any moment now...

"Awh! Is Lillie crying?" He teased her, smirking evilly.

"N-No! It just breaks my heart that you think you're doing something right with this organization! You put shock collars on them, the food you give them isn't even meant for them, and to top it all off, you won't let me watch Nebby anymore, like you used to in the past!" She continued talking back to him.

"I trusted you with Cosmog in the past, because that was when I actually liked you... You started acting strange lately, I should've expected you were the thief who took Cosmog. And luckily, you and your 'assistant' proved that to me! And another thing... We put those collars on them to get them to behave properly! Back then, we didn't do such a thing, but now we have to! It's the only way they'll listen, it's my duty to make sure these Pokémon are safe, and protected from thieves and hunters like your friend back there! She still has Vulpix, and her 'boyfriends' are there with her too, protecting her! I already sent a large group of the best Aether Workers I could find, there's no way she's going to get away this time around!" He chuckled silently, continuing to smirk at her.

"That's what you think! You're evil you know that right? Why can't you just let it go? It's just ONE innocent adorable little Vulpix!" Lillie tried backing herself up from him.

"Pfft... You honestly think the Vulpix is cute? That little rodent froze Mark and myself, in a block of ice... It was a cheap move, but it allowed that girl to escape from us, along with her friends." Faba talked back.

"I don't care what happened to you... The important thing is that Vulpix and Melanie are safe." Lillie turned around, with her arms still crossed.

"Well you should start caring now... Because it's time for that meeting with your mother! Come here right now!" Faba shouted, getting a set of keys out from his lab coat.

He went on closer to the cell doors, and found the correct key to unlock the doors. Once the door was unlocked, it opened widely almost instantly! It startled Lillie from the loud clashing sound that it made, causing her to take a few steps away from Faba. He extended his arm towards her to grab her by the shoulder, but she refused him by stepping further away.

"I said COME HERE!" He angrily yelled at her.

He lunged forward and grabbed her arm, pulling hard on it.

"O-Ow! H-Hey! Get your filthy hands off of ME!" Lillie tried pulling her arm free, but it was no use...

"No, you have a meeting with your mother that you have to attend to... We're going there right now to the conference room whether you like it or not little Lillie." Faba chuckled silently to himself, while dragging her out of the cell, and through the narrow hallway again.

"Wait until she finds out you put me in a cell! She's going to demote your position, or even worse... Fire you!" Lillie warned him.

Once they reached the elevator again, Faba pushed her into it first before he entered soon after. As soon as they were both in, Faba pressed one of the buttons on the control panel again, and the doors shut instantly like last time.

"We'll see about that... You tell her ANYTHING, and Cosmog gets it, understand?" Faba threatened her, putting his foot down to stop her from saying another word.

Lillie gulped nervously, scared about what was going to happen to Nebby if she told her mother anything. She decided to stay quiet, until she felt the need to speak to him again... It was a very awkward and silent moment between them, as the elevator passed by each of the floors. Once it reached the conference room floor, there was another door behind the elevator's doorway. It had a key lock on it, which meant the room was only for Admins or higher ranks of Aether. Fabba took out the same set of keys, searching for the specific key to unlock the door.

"Aha! Here it is!" Faba cheered, eventually locating the key...

He unlocked the door with the key, and opened it quickly, making his way into the room, while holding onto Lillie's arm as tight as he could. The room itself was pretty small. There was a round table of course, along with chairs on the side, and just like every room in the building, it was painted white... A few plants were there too for decoration, and there were large glassy windows on the walls too, which allowed you to see the rest of the forest outside surrounding the building! Once Faba and Lillie reached the table, he made her take her seat, and made sure she wouldn't be able to try anything to escape from him.

"Don't get any ideas, understand?" Faba winked at her, before giggling like a maniac again...

"Understood." Lillie firmly replied back, not giving him any eye contact whatsoever.

At the center of the room in front of them though, there was a monitor screen, which was huge of course! Faba patiently stood there beside Lillie, waiting for Lusamine to checkup on him. All of a sudden, there was a flashing red light coming from the monitor, and the screen immediately turned on! The first thing that appeared on the screen was the Aether logo, and Faba felt proud of himself when he saw the foundation's icon. After a minute or two, the screen eventually went LIVE, and Faba was pleased to see who was on the screen. There she laid, the president of the Aether Foundation! Lusamine appeared, sitting casually while facing towards the camera of the screen!

 _ **Play Song!: (Lusamine - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=Q6Qxu8CMxbM)**_

"Lusamine! My president..." Faba bowed to her, paying her his respects.

"Ah, Faba. It is a big pleasure to talk to you again after all this time! Oh?" Lusamine greeted him happily, but she stopped talking once she noticed Lillie sitting on one of the chairs beside the chief.

"Lillie wanted to join us! Ain't that right?" Faba gazed at Lillie angrily.

"Hi mother!" Lillie greeted her mom, looking very cheerful to see her!

"Still beautiful as always!" Lusamine smiled back at her daughter in return.

"So, what's new in Alola Miss Lusamine?" Faba tilted his head, wondering about what today's conversation would be this time.

"It's always the usual Faba, same old Alola... How are you doing as well?" She asked back, showing a large grin on her face.

Lillie on the other hand, didn't look too amused and excited to see her mother, she felt weird about her in some way... She only played along to greet her so that Faba wouldn't do anything bad.

"Really good! You're calling just to check in on Cosmog, I'm assuming?" Faba was confident in his hopes.

"Quite the opposite, I wanted to see how my little Vulpix was doing! Didn't it recently hatch? I wanna see the adorable little thing!" The president giggled, still looking as happy as can be.

"Oh! Er..." Faba stuttered nervously, not expecting the sudden response from her!

"She's doing really fine mother! She's an adorable Pokémon, and she's really happy too!" Lillie continued to force a fake smile from her face, hoping her mother would believe her.

"That's good! May I see her though Faba?" Lusamine turned back to Faba, curious to meet the Ice Type.

"What about how we're doing here as a group, are we providing enough-" Faba began to interrupt her, but she had already cut him off!

"Please don't interrupt Faba, I just wanted to see the Pokémon, that is all! I'm very excited to see what it looks like! Especially if it's an Alolan Pokémon." Lusamine continued to show a warm smile back at the chief, waiting patiently.

"Well... You see... Uh..." Faba rubbed the back of his head, acing nervous.

The president noticed this from him immediately, and her smile quickly faded into a confused frown.

"Faba? You look uneasy... Are you alright?"

"IT WAS HER!" Faba backed away from Lillie, pointing fingers at her.

"Huh?" Lusamine was very confused at this point, not understanding what he was doing.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE'S CAUSED US TO GO THROUGH OVER THE LAST COUPLE DAYS!" He continued spitting out sentences...

"Did what? Faba! You better explain to me what's going on." Lusamine asked back, giving him a slight attitude in return, while raising her eyebrow.

"She's done nothing but bad, and it's ruining our work too! Days ago, Lillie and her so called 'Apprentice' were let into the labs from the entry guards, and guess what they did! They snuck into the lower part of the labs, and found Vulpix... I eventually caught them at the main lobby, but her apprentice suddenly teleported out of thin air, along with Vulpix!" Faba explained everything to her, talking very fast!

"What're you trying to say Faba?" Lusamine asked angrily, annoyed by the chief.

"I'm trying to say that your Vulpix was kidnapped! By some twerps! And it's all Lillie's fault! She even tried stealing Cosmog as well." Faba kept on blaming Lillie, not feeling guilty about it at all.

Lillie on the other hand, was shocked to see that Faba would say such a thing to her mother. She had a feeling of anger, and rage as she gave him a killer look.

"Isn't that right Lillie?" Faba laughed evilly, patting her on the back gently.

"LILLIE? Is that true?" Lusamine asked, starting to freak out a bit.

"Y-Yes mother..." Lillie had no choice but to tell the truth...

"Why would you do such a thing? Vulpix is gone then?" Lusamine turned back to face Faba about the situation.

"I already sent out the best Aether workers I could find to track them down, don't worry though Miss, we'll get her back, I promise you." Faba crossed his heart, bowing to her next.

"Good! You better get her back! Otherwise there's going to be some consequences, understand?! BRING HER BACK! I'll check in with you over the next couple of days, got it? DON'T LET ME DOWN FABA!" Lusamine screamed angrily.

He was startled by her sudden shouting, along with Lillie too. They watched her as she made her way closer to the screen. Then, she closed the screen off as if it were a laptop, which it was!

"See what you did?" Faba yelled at Lillie.

"Me? I thought you weren't going to tell her! NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" Lillie screamed back.

"I'm doing what I must do, it's my job to report to the president about everything that happens. You brought this on yourself anyways." He reminded her.

"That's not-" Lillie wanted to argue back with the psychotic man, but he interrupted her by putting a finger on her mouth.

"Sshh! No more words, now l must do important work... While you stay in the cells, got it? If I don't get Vulpix back within the next couple days, then I'm in big trouble! NOW LET'S GO!" Faba grabbed her by the arm again, and led her straight back to the elevator.

Lillie didn't say a word, but she knew her mother was upset at her... Which made her feel guilty for some apparent reason. She wasn't looking forward to being back in the cell either... Faba on the other hand, was hoping that Mark and his crew of Workers, would be able to get Vulpix back in time. He was concerned about what would happen if he didn't get the Pokémon back on time.

 _ **A different time from now...**_

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU ALREADY! TAKE THIIIIIIS!" Vulpix screamed, jumping into the air.

She did a quick flip before closing her eyes and opening her mouth! Once her mouth opened, she used Powder Snow on Mirror Alex, along with Flair caught up in it too! The snowy wind engulfed them both, freezing them in a solid big ice cube!

"VULPIX!" Melanie yelled at her.

"What?" Vulpix asked back innocently, landing back on the ground.

"Will they still be alive in there?" Melanie turned back to Alex and Braixen.

"Mhm..." Alex nodded slightly, crossing his arms in annoyance.

He was very annoyed with everything that was going on to him so far... First, being transported into this mirrored world, second, everyone he knew was different, and third, the portal back to his home was destroyed! Melanie noticed the look on his face, and instantly knew why he was upset.

"Look, don't worry... With or without that jerk's help, we'll get you back home. I promise!" She swore, crossing her heart to prove her point.

"Thanks, I just hope there's SOMETHING though, in this cave." Alex sighed, getting a small smile from her.

"Well, what if we keep exploring on further deep into the cave? Maybe we'll find something then?" She suggested, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Yeah, I guess we should try that right? Let's go." A smile was forced onto his face, and he started walking down a different pathway with his partner.

Melanie followed him too, leaving Eevee and Vulpix behind a bit. Eevee was too busy checking up to see how Vulpix was doing.

"Are you okay Vul?" He wondered, walking closer to her.

He was practically touching her with his own body, and he didn't want her to be upset or anything.

"No... But I'll be fine... Your Trainer is really mean." She mumbled back, with a tear escaping from her eye.

He took the chance to wipe the tear off of her face with his paw, gently embracing her into a warm hug. She gasped from the sudden action, not expecting a hug from him.

"Forget about him... Don't feel sad about whatever he said. He's a jerk, and I know how you're feeling right now, but ignore him okay? Just know that I'm always here for you if you need someone to talk to, alright?" He gave her a welcoming smile shortly after talking.

"That's why I love you..." She grinned back and hugged him even tighter, eventually giving him a quick peck on his cheek.

"Hehah! N-No problem!" He stuttered nervously, lovestruck from the kiss.

"What's wrong? Why're you stuttering like that?" She giggled cutely, letting go of him.

"W-What? No, wait! I-I uh..." He couldn't find the words to speak back to her, finding out that she was onto him.

She saw the blush on his face and that only made it better!

"You liked the kiss huh?" Vulpix eventually let out a laugh, finding his blush cute!

"Shut up..." He rolled his eyes, looking away from her.

"Come here you!" She laughed loudly, she tackled him to the floor, taking him by surprise!

Once they were both on the floor, she pinned him to the ground so that he couldn't get back up.

"G-Get! Ahah! Get off of me!" He giggled with her.

"Hah! No, not until you admit it!" She continued laughing with him, refusing to let go of him.

"Admit what?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't go further with this.

"Admit that you liked the kiss!" She wanted to know the answer really badly.

"No...! Now let me go!" He shook his head, covering his eyes with his fluffy ears.

"Not until you admit it! Or if you say I win, then I'll let you go." She offered.

"Never! I'm not admitting anything!" He kept on refusing to say the answer to her question.

"Well I guess that settles it, I'm never letting you go then!" She closed her eyes, still pinning him down as hard as she could.

"Yeah, I guess it settles that I can also do THIS then!" He shouted angrily.

She didn't expect him to do anything next... But she was wrong... He did something that blew her mind out of the universe! She felt his lips pressing against hers, feeling fireworks launching beside them! Her eyes suddenly opened wide from the kiss, and she watched as he made it more passionate with her. After a minute or so of being locked in, she let go of his mouth to catch a breath of air! As soon as they separated, Vulpix got off of him, and looked away, so that she could hide her tomato colored blush.

"Hey..." He mumbled quietly, just barely enough for her to hear his voice.

She continued to look away, feeling very embarrassed, but she felt his paw touching the side of her face. He turned her face around so that she could look at him, and he noticed the blush too!

"It's okay... No need to hide it, I got one too!" He chuckled nervously, with the same blush as hers.

"O-Oh!" She had no words at all... They were both equally embarrassed, and they had the same colored blush as well.

He went ahead of her, and offered his paw out to her next! She gently grasped it, smiling happily at him!

"Let's go!" She giggled adorably again, following him.

The two of them continued down the path, catching up to the two Trainers ahead of them!

 _ **A different period of time later...**_

"So, what's the plan once we reach them?" Emily asked, annoying Mark for the fun of it!

"Do you ever shut up?" He rudely shouted back, avoiding eye contact with her.

They were making their way down Route 10, almost reaching their halfway mark to Geosenge Town. The workers behind them were guarding their backs, looking alert as ever...

"I'm just wondering jeez... Maybe we should take a short break huh?" Emily suggested, trying to get her fellow co-workers to rest for a bit.

"No way... I'm supervising you all, remember? Just because you know where they're at, doesn't make you higher than the other workers behind us." Mark whispered, grunting at her.

"You're always so negative! Just chill for a bit..." She replied, rolling her eyes at the older admin.

"Are you sure they're at Geosenge Town?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"Of course I'm sure... Otherwise we wouldn't be travelling down here in the first place. Anyways, how do you think Faba is doing with his meeting?" She kept on asking him all of these questions...

She was acting very annoying for a purpose, but Mark didn't know why... He couldn't put his finger on it, so he just continued to groan at her.

"You either shut it, or I'll put you into a cell with Lillie for a day..." Mark warned her, thinking that would make her stay quiet for once.

"Fine!" She gave him an attitude, crossing her arms.

She looked down at her uniform and examined it for a bit, then she looked back over to him, giving him a confused look.

"What is it?" He wondered what was wrong with her.

"How come you don't get to wear this silly hat?" Emily asked another question yet again, pointing up to her uniform's hat above her head.

"How come you can't shut it for once? PLEASE! AT LEAST TEN MINUTES OF SILENCE!" Mark snapped back at her so suddenly, that it startled their fellow workers behind them.

They were just looking at him as if he were mad... And it was enough to make Emily quiet once again. Mark went ahead and led the group further down the route, hoping to get there as fast as he could. Honestly, he just wanted to get away from Emily for a while longer...

"Yup, he's crazy... Him and Faba..." Emily thought to herself.

She looked towards the sky, and then continued to think about Alex more.

"Hopefully you guys are at Shalour City by now, I hope I can buy you all some time before we make it there... Just keep that Vulpix safe, whatever you do... Get away from us as far as you can."

 _ **Back into the caves...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Crystal Cave - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness Music Extended: watch?v=Ll7uzpg4KP0&t=34s)**_

"Ooh..." A voice mumbled quietly in pain.

The voice belonged to Melanie, back in the real world, and she was just waking up from her little accident earlier. A sharp headache struck her slightly, and everything was dark too! It was pitch black, and this only made it worse for her. She slowly woke back up into reality again, taking her time as she began opening her eyes.

"Ow! Okay! Ow! That hurts!" She continued on, putting her hand over her forehead.

"W-Wait..." She stopped talking once she realized where she was at.

There was only one small source of light, which came from a glowing crystal out in front of her. She walked towards it slowly and carefully so that she could have better vision in the cave.

"I got... I'm alone?" She wondered, looking around the empty space around her.

There was no sound at all either... Which started making her feel paranoid! She felt alone... And it wasn't a good feeling either.

"James?" She called out for him, slightly trying to remember what happened before she passed out.

There was no response, which only made it worse...

"Did I pass out or something? That I ended up getting, separated? N-No! This can't be happening! I hate being alone in scary places like these!" She began panicking.

Her heart race was beating quickly, as she started breathing heavily too. She was afraid, with nobody around to keep her company. Sure, she had her Pokémon on her... But she didn't want them to be stressed out over the situation they were already in! Alex getting taken away, James and her getting separated apart. It would probably stress out Vulpix the most, considering Alex had Eevee's Pokéball.

"Best not to tell her anything about Eevee yet... I know she likes him the most, they're best friends almost... I wouldn't want her to be upset or freak out about him going missing along with Alex." She talked to herself, thinking about Vulpix's reaction.

"JAMES!" She called out once again, hoping to hear a response, or a sign at least!

However, there was no return... And she had no idea what to do next. The last thing that came to mind was a memory of her and James falling down a steep staircase. They were pushed off from a horde of Pokémon, and then they ended up getting split apart!

"It's no use..." She finally gave up, sighing sadly.

She started getting second thoughts, about being lost forever, about losing her friends forever, and about her mind going insane from the cave...

"W-Where do I even... Start? JAMES?" She went ahead and shouted his name once more, trying to see if he was around her.

Still nothing back... Just emptiness and quietness, all around the atmosphere. She took a few steps past the crystal, hoping to find another pathway to take. But it was just too dark... She needed light badly, and she couldn't navigate her way without a source of light now could she?

"I have no choice but to call you out buddy..." She mumbled slightly, pulling out a Pokéball from her bag.

She opened the device, and a beam of light came shooting out of it like it always did. She called out her Dragon Type, Bagon, and he came out as happy as ever!

"Baa! Go!" He cried out, landing perfectly onto the ground.

She smiled as she noticed his enthusiastic cry, hoping he could help her.

"Hey Bagon!" She waved happily towards the Pokémon, greeting him.

"On?" Bagon tilted his head in return, looking around their surroundings.

He didn't know where he was at, so he just looked up to Melanie for answers.

"Guess I'll have to explain it to you then, huh? Okay..." She took a deep breath, before getting to her answer.

Her Pokémon listened carefully, with wide opened ears, waiting for an answer patiently.

"We all got separated... All of us, James, Alex, it's just you, me, and the rest of our team... After we explored the cave for a bit, Alex ended up getting pulled into one of the mirrored crystals, and he got taken away from us... James and I went to go and find him, but we ended up getting split up, from a group of Pokémon... Do you think you can help me?" She pleaded for his help.

"Bagon!" He nodded back quickly, showing a slight concerned look on his face shortly after.

"Okay, good! It's really dark down here! So, use Dragon Breath and light the rest of the way for us!" She commanded a move for him to use.

Immediately after hearing the command, Bagon opened his mouth to shoot the fiery breath down the rest of the long narrow cave. The breath started travelling down the cave slowly, as it lit up the cave pretty well! Once the move ended, there were little tiny fires all over the walls and the roof, leaving them plenty of light to see!

"Awesome! Great job Bagon!" Melanie bent down at the Dragon Type, petting him lightly on the head.

"Ba-gon!" He chuckled nervously after feeling the contact from her hand.

Once she stopped petting him, he jumped up onto her shoulder, and took a short rest there. She stood back up again, and proceeded on through the narrow hall. There were no more crystals at all... Compared to the entrance... The place itself was creepy enough, and Melanie didn't like it one bit. She didn't know where to go, or where to find James either, other than to just explore the rest of the cave. What freaked her out the most was the weird presence around her, it sent a cold chill down her spine, which only made her feel a lot worse.

"Hoopa?!" She shouted out, looking around herself to see if the Legendary Pokémon was there watching her.

It was the same feeling she felt whenever Hoopa was around her, like last time. She expected the Pokémon to pop out at any moment, but nothing ever came... Just thinking about Hoopa, only reminded her of Lillie back in the Aether Labs.

"I hope you're still okay back there..." Melanie whispered to herself, looking down at the floor in disappointment.

Thinking about Aether, only stressed her out even more, so she just decided to shrug it off, and move on from it, focusing back to finding James again. After a while or so of nonstop walking, there was absolutely no hints or clues whatsoever, and it was still empty and quiet.

"Maybe I should... Go back?" She looked behind her, into the darkness again.

The flames behind, started dying out slowly, but there was something that was right behind her... She stopped walking to take a quick look at whatever the object was, and it started glowing blue all of a sudden from faraway. She squinted her eyes, trying to get a better view, but it was just too dark for her to see clearly.

"Bagon, Use Dragon Breath again..." She mumbled, slightly enough for him to hear her soft voice.

"Gon." Bagon obeyed and used the move once more, lighting up the cave beyond her.

The light traveled down, until it directly hit a Pokémon! She heard the crying voice coming from the distance, and it definitely sounded like a creature.

"Huh?" She continued to examine the Pokémon.

"CAAAAAAAAAAAARBI!" The loud screeching voice screamed at her, startling her and Bagon at the same time!

"Wha-" Melanie wanted to speak again, but she stopped herself when several other screams came behind the Pokémon!

"BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" The screeching got louder and louder, as the Pokémon started making it's way towards her!

"What the heck are those things?" She screamed out loud, scared for her life.

She took a couple of steps back, getting away from the Pokémon so that she wouldn't be attacked by it. The Pokémon eventually reached her until it was fully visible to look at, revealing a Carbink!

"T-THOSE ARE... They're the ones who pushed James!" Melanie pointed out, remembering the creature's appearance.

All of a sudden, there was a larger group of Carbink, that appeared right behind the leading one! Seeing them all glowing in the darkness, was enough to make Melanie sprint away as fast as she could!

"AHH!" She couldn't help but scream as she kept on sprinting away.

With only one way to go, she continued down the cave, running and running as fast as lightning! The crying sounds of the Carbink sounded horrifying, and they seemed pretty angry too!

"W-What did I do? Did I invade their home or something?" Melanie began talking to herself, not daring to look behind.

"CARRBINK!" The screaming voices came at her again, and they sounded much worse than before!

Melanie kept on trying to get away from them, until she ran into a solid rocky wall, impacting it pretty hard...

"Oo! S-Shoot! No way!" She was freaking out at this point.

She reached a dead-end, and there was nowhere else to go from there!

"Bagon, go ahead! Dragon Breath let's go!" Melanie turned around to face the horde of Carbink coming their way.

Bagon used the move once again, and it collided with the large swarm! The glowing Pokémon got blasted back, giving them both enough time to find another way out!

"They're not gonna be too happy about that, come on Bagon! Help me find a different way to take! There has to be a crack or something we can get through!" She continued shouting, sounding concerned.

Bagon jumped from her shoulder, examining the wall for a bit. The two of them kept on searching and searching, but there was nothing past the dead-end! Until a sudden idea popped up in Melanie's mind, she didn't know if it would work or not, but it was worth a shot!

"Alright boy, try using the same move again, but use it on this wall!" She pointed to the dead-end beside them, and Bagon turned around to face it.

"Ba-Goon!" The Dragon Type fired the move towards the wall, making a huge explosion!

Melanie jumped out of the way before she could be caught up in the explosion, grabbing Bagon as soon as it went off!

"Alright... Hopefully it worked!" She mumbled slightly.

She heard the loud footsteps coming from the Carbink, as they were screeching their way down to her. Once the dark smoke cleared away, the wall was blasted open, revealing another pathway to take!

"Yes! It actually worked! Great job Bagon!" Melanie laughed happily, while petting Bagon in return.

"Gon!" Bagon cheered with her, enjoying the affection.

Melanie jumped through the broken wall, over the debris, and landed perfectly onto the ground again! She didn't bother looking behind her, as she continued to run through the darkness beyond!

"CAAAaaaa..." The loud screams from the horde started dying out slowly, as Melanie kept on going forward.

Bagon did his part by lighting up the path for her. Providing just enough light for her to see!

"Thanks boy!" Melanie smiled, lifting Bagon up from her shoulder.

She placed him so that she could carry him in her arms. That way, he couldn't fall off of her so easily! After a while or so of running... Melanie eventually slowed her pace down to a walking speed. She felt pretty safe from the Carbink, so she didn't have to worry about them for now.

"Okay... *Phew!*" She breathed out lightly, as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

"Ba?" Bagon looked up to his Trainer, wanting to know why she slowed down.

"We're safe... For now at least! All we have to do is find James, but how're we going to do that?" She began talking again, trying to think harder about where James could be.

With nothing popping up in her mind, she started getting frustrated... None of this wouldn't have happened if they hadn't had entered the cave in the first place. That same old worried feeling came back to her, once she started thinking about Alex. It kind of painfully jumped at her heart, making her a bit depressed for some reason.

"D-Do... Is James right? D-Do I... Do I have... F-Feelings, for him?" She felt her arms shaking slightly, as she began getting nervous.

Bagon noticed this immediately, and wanted to know what was up with her. He looked up to her in curiosity, pointing out the fact that she was nervous about something. As Melanie continued to think ahead about having feelings for Alex, it only formed a blush on her face.

"It's... It's true?" She stopped shaking, then her heart race started returning back to normal.

She cared about him so much, almost like a family member... He saved her from falling off of the Cliff a couple days ago, which only made her like him more!

"A-Alex!" Melanie looked at the roof of the cave, and couldn't help but giggle upon saying his name.

"GON?" Bagon screamed, jumping from her arms.

He snapped her out of her thoughts, and Melanie didn't see where she was going! She bumped into a smaller Pokémon in front of her!

"Gah! Uh..." Melanie looked below herself, looking down at the Pokémon.

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!" The Pokémon screeched at her, sending out a very loud call!

Melanie covered her ears, and Bagon was doing the same thing too! They were stunned from the loud screaming, and Melanie's heart started to pound again! She proceeded and bent down to pick up the Pokémon, hoping to calm it down!

"Carbiii?" The Carbink didn't move a single muscle, as it immediately stopped screaming.

"Sshh! There there, there there! No need to scream!" She mumbled quietly as she began stroking the Pokémon's head lightly.

The Carbink's eyes lit up as he looked up to her, seeming happy!

"You're not bad... Are you a Pokémon?" She asked it.

"Bunk!" The Carbink simply shook its head up and down, still looking as happy as can be.

"What was up with your brothers and sisters then... Did I invade your territory or something?" She wondered.

"Arr..." The Pokémon didn't know what to reply back, it just laid there in her arms peacefully.

She sighed, thinking that he was finally calm, but the other thing that stressed her out the most was trying to find where James was at. She had no idea or any guess at all to where he could be, she was just alone... With her Bagon, just staring at the Carbink.

"Do you know the reason why my friend was taken by a mirror? He got pulled through one, and I haven't seen him ever since..." Melanie sounded upset when she said that sentence.

Again, the Carbink didn't know what to say... Which only made it worse for her. She didn't know whether or not if he would ever come back... Was he gone forever?

"It... It's not true... There has to be a way to get him back..." She thought to herself, not giving up any hope whatsoever.

Her train of thought was interrupted when a sudden loud screeching noise came her way again! It came from all directions... In front, and behind her too! She looked around quickly to see who was there, and Bagon was ready for whatever was about to come for them! Immediately, a bright flashing light started heading towards Bagon at the speed of light, striking him instantly! He was hit by the weird light, and suddenly... He fainted instantly!

"Bagon!?" Melanie shouted in concern.

She placed Carbink back onto the ground again, and ran towards her injured Pokémon. Lifting him up carefully, she examined Bagon's body for any injuries, but there weren't any at all!

"Huh? Bagon, are you alright?" She asked, just to be sure if he was hurt.

"Baa..." The Dragon Type groaned in pain, mumbling slightly.

He kept his eyes closed, and he looked pretty weak too. She noticed that his leg was starting to shake slightly, and she didn't know what to do about it! Until that screeching noise got louder and louder, as it got closer to them! The annoying noise distracted her from caring for her Pokémon, and that only made her more frustrated.

"WILL YOU SHUT THAT NOISE UP ALREADY!?" She felt the need to scream her lungs out, thinking that would stop whoever's making the noise.

The screeching never stopped though... It was so loud that it started making her feel a bit uneasy. She tried to stand up straight again so that she could get outta there, but she just couldn't... It made her feel weak too... And her ears started ringing slightly! Her vision was starting to blackout, and her mind was numb. It got to the point where she started feeling sleepy, but she tried her best to resist it. With the same sound playing over and over again in her mind, she eventually fainted... Falling asleep, and blacking out...

 _ **A different moment in time...**_

"We're finally here!" Mark announced, getting past Geosenge Town's entrance.

He, along with his workers made it to the town. They were one step closer to reaching their targets, and Mark didn't want anything to go wrong with his mission.

"What now?" One of the workers asked the older admin.

"We keep on moving forward." Mark answered back.

He turned to give the workers an intimidating death glare, and they never took their eyes off of him.

"I think we should take a quick rest! There's a lot of power in these rocks, from what I've heard... This could be a perfect place to experiment with!" Emily cut-into the conversation, interrupting the admin's orders.

"Emily's right! This place looks interesting!" One of her co-workers agreed with her, examining the large pillars of rocks surrounding the town.

"Hmph..." Mark thought about her suggestion for a while.

He finally made up his mind, then turned to face Emily.

"Very well... Guess we should rest for a bit... We've travelled across that long route anyway. Take a break people." He ordered, walking off into the center of the town.

The rest of Emily's co-workers walked away, minding their own business. They left her alone all to herself, and she couldn't help but smile victoriously!

"Yes! This oughta buy them some time! Alex is probably challenging the Gym Leader there. Pretty soon, once we get there, they'll be long gone!" She thought to herself.

She started walking down one of the roads to the center of the town, and the citizens just stared at her, giving her odd looks. She couldn't help but notice their frowns, and that only made her feel concerned a little.

"I-Is, is it the uniform?" Emily looked down at herself.

She didn't seem to find anything wrong with her outfit. It was clean, and there weren't any wrinkles or marks on it either.

"Is it because I'm part of Aether?" She thought about it more, coming up with more guesses.

Emily eventually shrugged it off, ignoring their odd stares. She just minded her own business, hoping to buy Alex and his friends some more time.

 _ **Dark... Cold... Alone... And scared...**_

 _ **Those were the only words that could be described...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Sealed Chamber - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=iddDzJc_5fI)**_

"Car... Car... Car..." Mumbled voices played over... Like a broken tape recorder.

"Urgh..." Melanie groaned in pain.

She tried opening her eyes to see what was going on, but she felt weak, and she couldn't move at all.

"Car..." The same voices played around her.

After a couple of seconds or so, the energy came back to her body, fully awakening her! She sat back up, opening her eyes widely, looking around the room she was currently in. The first thing she saw was Bagon on the ground, sleeping next to her, and there were lots of Carbink surrounding them too!

"*Gasp!* Bagon! Bagon are you okay?" She quickly rushed over to his side, lifting him up from the floor.

He didn't reply back... Which made her really worried for him. She decided to let him rest, thinking he was just tired or something... So she took out his Pokéball, and returned him back into it so he could heal back up again. Putting it away quickly, she stood up and found herself in the middle of a huge swarm of Carbink, approaching her from every direction!

"W-What do you guys want from me?" She asked in fear, not knowing what to expect from the glowing creatures.

She had tons of light to see, considering there were a ton of huge blue crystals surrounding the room. It was a strange place indeed, with weird Pokémon...

"Car... Car..." They just kept groaning at her, repeating the same phrases as before.

At this point, Melanie gulped nervously... She knew that they wanted SOMETHING from her, but what was it? She didn't know, so she just stayed silent, carefully watching all of them.

"STEP FORWARD!" A feminist voice shouted at her rudely, startling her and the Pokémon beside her!

The voice sounded godly, and Melanie didn't know what to do! She saw the Carbink in front of her moving aside, creating a path for her to follow. She quietly walked down the narrow path, as the amount of crystals started to dim down... She kept on walking until she reached a point where several other Carbink blocked her off, preventing her from moving. She looked behind herself, and noticed the rest of the Pokémon surrounding her again.

"Jeez... Did I... Do something to them? Are they angry at me?" She thought to herself, noticing the angry looks on their faces.

All of a sudden, her train of thought was instantly stopped, as a bright glowing pinkish light appeared out of nowhere! She looked up to the light, but it blinded her, forcing her to look away again! The pink beam of light was so bright, almost like the sun! It lit-up the entire room she was in, and the blue crystals around her changed color as well! The blue in them, changed to a beautiful diamond pink texture, and the gems on the Carbink's bodies reflected the pink light as well!

"Woah!" Melanie gasped in amazement, watching the color of the crystals changing!

She was taken by the beauty of the cave, and it was very different than before! She could see the entire hollowed room she was in, and the bright pink ball started to go away at the center! Once the pink ball of light eventually faded away, it revealed a beautiful looking Pokémon! Melanie looked at the creature in shock, not knowing what to say or think about it! The Pokémon looked very similar to the Carbink surrounding her. It was a gray and sylph-like looking Pokémon, with a white chest and arms that resembled a dress almost! It also had a headdress, which consisted of beautiful shining reflective pink crystals, four short ones were cresting along the top, pointing upwards, and the other two crystals were longer, on the sides pointing downward. The four crystals also had a diamond-cut centerpiece which was framed by the Pokémon's slim gray ears. A smaller pink crystal was embedded on the back of it's head, and a gold nugget was also on it's forehead. The Pokémon's eyes were red, with pink irises at the center. A gold crescent necklace circled it's neck, and the end of the necklace had a smaller glowing pink gem. The lower part of the Pokémon's waist beneath the dress, was made of a large oblong chunk of stone, with a larger pink crystal sticking out from the side. It looked pretty angry, and it was staring directly at Melanie.

"W-What're you?" Melanie questioned the Pokémon, still amazed by the beauty of it.

She watched as the Pokémon flew down towards her, still looking mad... Once the Pokémon reached her, it was just hovering in front of her view, similar to what Hoopa did...

"That's not important! The real question is what're YOU doing here, in my domain?" The Pokémon angrily shouted at her.

With no words to talk back at all... Melanie was shocked, shocked from the fact that it could talk!

"You can... Talk? Wait a minute..." Melanie mumbled, thinking about the Pokémon for a little bit.

"NO! THERE IS NO WAITING A MINUTE! WHAT'S A HUMAN LIKE YOU, DOING HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!" The creature screamed at her.

"A-Are, are you a l-legendary? A Legendary Pokémon?" Melanie asked it, wondering if it was true or not.

She remembered Hoopa talking, and he was a legendary, so maybe this Pokémon was a mythical too!

"What's it to you?" It asked back, tilting it's head in confusion.

"I just want to know!" Melanie tried to be friendly towards it.

"No! No! No! and finally... NO! I don't have time for silly games like this! No story-time, just tell me why you're here!" The Pokémon demanded, with it's voice cracking sligtly.

Melanie couldn't help but giggle at the Pokémon, it seemed kind of cute, very similar to Hoopa! She showed no fear towards the creature, which only frustrated it even more...

"*Sigh!*... Y-You humans have no respect..." The Pokémon let out a groan, rolling it's eyes in annoyance.

"I'm friendly... No need to worry about me, I'm not here to cause any trouble or anything! I'm just looking for a friend of mines!" Melanie explained why she was there in the cave anyway, hoping the Pokémon would trust her.

After the Pokémon flew around her body, circling her, it stopped for a quick second to shake it's head.

"Oh yeah... Him? He got taken by that mirrored crystal..." The creature replied back.

"You saw what happened?!" Melanie asked, with her heart pounding slightly.

"Yes I saw what happened... I have the power to see through these crystals, so that I can protect my family here..." The Pokémon pointed to all of the Carbink around.

"Well... I'm sorry if I invaded your home... We were just going to explore it to get through to the other side, but it ended up costing him to be taken away..." Melanie sighed heavily, looking sad.

"Yes... I am one..." It replied, looking down at the floor.

"Huh?" Melanie was confused by it's answer.

She watched the Pokémon hover closer to her, with it being inches apart from her face.

"I'm a legend... A legendary whatever you call it, Pokémon? I'm... I'm Diancie, the princess of Diamond Domain." Diancie finally answered Melanie's previous question, admitting who she was!

"I knew it..." Melanie wasn't as surprised as she was when she first met Hoopa.

"Regardless of what you tell me... YOU ATTACKED MY SOLDIERS BACK THERE IN ONE OF THE CAVE'S PATHS!" Diancie screamed her lungs out, startling Melanie again!

"It wasn't my fault! They were going to attack me no matter what! I had to protect myself, and my Pokémon! Why'd you even bring me here in the first place? You also separated my other friend too! I've been trying to find him, but is he gone too?!" Melanie argued back, trying to defend herself from the legendary's words.

"I don't care... You should've made a good first impression! I'm not so friendly with rude visitors! Especially ones who try and terrorize my people,! Wait..." Diancie examined Melanie even more, still showing anger towards her.

"You're here to try and steal me, aren't you? IS THAT ALL YOU HUMANS CARE ABOUT? STEALING OUR POWERS?!" Diancie shrieked, with her blood boiling!

"No, that's not-" Melanie tried to save herself from the Pokémon's wrath, but Diancie had already cut her off!

"BE QUIET!"

"YOU LISTEN HERE! I ALREADY TOLD YOU WHY I'M HERE! I'M NOT HERE TO STEAL YOUR POWERS! I'M ONLY HERE TO RESCUE MY FRIEND FROM THAT ONE MIRROR THAT TOOK HIM AWAY!" Melanie forced herself, then she felt her heart beating rapidly again.

Tears started to form in her eyes, and she eventually knelt back onto the solid rocky ground, clenching her fists to show her emotion. She felt, angry, upset, confused, and she just wanted Alex to be back with her. She never felt this way about anyone before, and it calmed Diancie down for some reason. Diancie flew down so that she was at her eye level, and she looked closely at the tears falling down her cheeks.

"A-Are you..." Diancie mumbled slightly, wondering why she was crying.

"No... No I'm not!" Melanie wiped the tears away from her face, looking away from the Pokémon.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." The princess apologized to her, feeling guilty about making her cry.

"I just... I just want him back, can you bring him back?" Melanie asked, wanting to see Alex again.

"Who? The person you got separated from? Or the person who got taken by the mirror?" Diancie tilted her head, asking the question back to her.

"Where are they both?" Melanie politely asked another question, hoping to get answers from the mythical creature.

"The one you got separated with, managed to find his way outside of the cave, the one who got taken away by the mirror... I-I don't know where he went..." Diancie replied back, sighing afterwards.

After hearing her sentence, Melanie couldn't figure out how to process this. Would she ever see Alex again? Or was he gone forever? It was a confusing question that she didn't know the answer too, and she had a feeling in her gut that Diancie could bring him back!

"Can you bring him back?" Melanie wondered curiously, sounding desperate.

"I can... But there's just one thing... I'm not going to let you slide away so easily, human... You DID hurt some of my people with your little Dragon back there though..." Diancie whispered back, crossing her arms to show the attitude in her voice.

"Please!" Melanie sounded even more desperate now!

"Uh! Uh! Uh! You're not going to smooth talk your way out of this. I challenge you to a battle! If you win, then I'll bring him back to you, and if I win... Then you shall stay here for the rest of your life, serving me, and protecting my people!" Diancie offered a deal with her.

"HOW IS THAT FAIR!? YOU'RE A LEGENDARY POKÉMON. I STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST YOU!" Melanie argued, looking ticked off!

"I don't care... You're going to battle me whether you like it or not! Now I suggest you choose someone carefully... Because I'll bring no mercy to your Pokémon, for hurting my people!" Diancie announced.

She flew back to where her throne chair was located, while the Carbink started scattering apart, giving them more than enough space for the battlefield. Soon after that, Diancie clapped her hands together, and in a matter of seconds! Large pink bright crystal pillars started popping up from the battlefield's grounds, making a huge rumbling vibration! It scared Melanie a tiny bit, not expecting it to happen! She didn't want to fight in the first place! She wasn't really good with battling...

"I-I'm sorry I have to call you out..." Melanie took out another Pokéball from her bag, and opened it up.

The same beam of light came shooting out of it, as she was calling Bagon out to fight the legendary! Upon being released, Bagon was fully alert, and he looked ready to go! He examined the surroundings around him, and then he noticed Melanie standing over him.

"Bag?" Bagon tilted his head in curiosity, wondering what was going on.

"It's hard to explain... This Pokémon here, she's the princess or something... Of all of these other rocks, and she holds the key to freeing Alex! We have to beat her, so that we can get our friend back, if we lose... Well, then..." Melanie stopped speaking after that, thinking that was all the info he needed to know.

"Gon!" Bagon nodded furiously, agreeing with his Trainer.

He turned to face Diancie, who was sitting casually on her chair, looking as beautiful as ever.

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokémon XY: "Battle! VS Diancie!" (XY Style / Fan-Made): watch?v=fs8R2Xo5G1A)**_

"Go ahead..." Melanie announced, allowing Diancie to take the first attack.

"You asked for it, URRRGH!" Diancie shouted out a battle cry, flying directly towards Bagon at the speed of light!

She took him by surprise, and she pinned him to the floor, tackling him! Now that she was on top of him, it would be much harder for Bagon to get out of there, considering her weight would probably match a larger boulder of rocks...

"Don't even think about it princess... Bagon, use B-Bite!" Melanie stuttered nervously, she wasn't looking forward to the battle, but she had to do it...

Immediately, Bagon listened to her command, biting down hard onto Diancie's chest!

"Ah!" Diancie was stunned from the bite.

"Ba-GON!" Bagon turned to his side, throwing her off of him.

Once she was off, he stood back up, prepared for whatever was about to come next.

"Dragon Breath!" Melanie shouted another command.

He opened his mouth wide, shooting the attack at Diancie.

"Hmph... Reflect." Diancie mumbled slightly, enough for Melanie to hear her words.

A bright pink shield-like projected barrier formed around her hand, as she held it out in place with ease. Once the fiery projectile collided with the shield, the move blasted back to Bagon, almost like a bullet!

"BA!" Bagon was surprised from the reflective move, watching his own attack making it's way towards him.

"Dodge it!" Melanie yelled even more.

Her Dragon Type jumped out of the way pretty quickly so that he could avoid getting hit. As soon as he landed onto the ground, Diancie had another chance to attack!

"Take this! Ancient Power!" Diancie announced another attack.

Her hands started glowing pink, as the big pebbles of debris on the floor started to rise slowly into the air. The stones changed into a pink/purple void color, and she was practically levitating them! She immediately threw the rocks towards Bagon, hoping they would hit him.

"Jump out of there!" Melanie commanded.

Diancie watched as her opponent dodged the move yet again, which surprised her! She didn't expect to be equally matched with a normal Pokémon! Realizing this, only made her more mad! She was a legendary, a mythical Pokémon...

"How're you dodging those so easily?" Diancie asked in annoyance.

"Because we're only here to get our friend back!" Melanie screamed at the mythical.

"Ugh! You're so annoying! HARDEN!" Diancie shouted back.

As soon as Diancie finished yelling her next attack, a sudden gray/pinkish orb surrounded her body, kind of like a type of armor almost.

"Bagon, Leer!" Melanie yelled another attack to use.

"Go!" Bagon waved his finger at Diancie, but nothing ever came...

"Those moves have no effect on legends... You're obviously not a smart human." Diancie rolled her eyes, crossing her arms next.

"Ember!" Melanie spoke once again.

Her Dragon Type shot the move at his opponent, and Diancie didn't have time to react! The Ember struck right through her metal armor, and it hit her directly head on, causing some damage!

"AH! W-What?!" Diancie screamed, flying back a bit from the attack.

She felt her own body smashing into one of the crystals behind her, and it really hurt her back!

"Hah! Good job Bagon!" Melanie cheered him on, feeling confident about winning now.

"Okay... You know what? No... Nonono! NO! NOO!" Diancie kept on repeating those words, looking very ticked off.

She got out of the crystal, and flew towards Bagon at the speed of light! She suddenly stopped once she was just millimeters apart from him, and he got startled from her instant appearance!

"Bag?" Bagon gasped silently, as he saw the killer look on her face.

"Eat it! DIAMOND... STOOOOORM!" Diancie screamed as loud as she could.

She summoned a brightly shining wave of light, and it turned crystal pink! Bagon and Melanie didn't know what to expect from the move, so they were just left hanging there, silent... The wave eventually expanded, and it looked like a portal almost! All of a sudden, sharp crystalline rocks shot at Bagon, striking him from everywhere!

"BAGOON!" He screamed out in pain, as the shards were digging into his skin.

Diancie saw another chance to attack while he was getting struck by the crystals, and she lifted the same purple colored rocks from earlier!

"Ancient Power!" She announced.

She threw the rocks at Bagon one by one, and they stunned him! Eventually, the Diamond Storm faded away, and he was left there... Laying on the floor crying a bit from the painful attacks. Diancie didn't feel guilty, nor was she regretful either! She just giggled at her opponent rudely.

"Bagon! Are you o-" Melanie was going to ask if her Pokémon was alright, but Diancie went ahead and cut her off.

"No! There's no seeing if he's okay! He's breathing still, so..." Diancie tapped her chin.

"Bagon!" Melanie started running toward him, completely ignoring the small legendary princess.

"YOU'RE NOT IN THIS!" Diancie shouted rudely.

She clapped her hands together one more time, and walled-off Melanie from reaching Bagon. A crystalline wall blocked her off, leaving Melanie startled!

"No mercy! Ahaha!" Diancie giggled menacingly, before kicking Bagon hard in the chest with her waist.

He flew back from her attack, and eventually collided with another crystal pillar!

"Good... Looks like I've won." Diancie laughed, looking over to her opponent.

"Car! Car! Caaaar!" Her fellow soldiers cheered their princess on.

She felt proud of herself, and she looked around to see the soldiers gathering around her.

"Hey!" Melanie spoke loudly.

She scared some of the Carbink, and she finally made her way around the obstacle wall, giving Diancie a death glare next!

"What's wrong with you?" Diancie asked, looking back at her.

"Bagon!" Melanie ignored her, running over to her injured Pokémon.

She picked him up off of the floor, and examined his body for any serious injuries. There weren't any, but there were a few scratches from the Diamond Storm.

"Are you... Okay?" Melanie whispered into his ear, rubbing his head lightly.

"Ba... Gon... Ba... Gon..." He mumbled back painfully, breathing heavily.

All of a sudden, a bright aqua marine light surrounded his body! And it surprised Melanie! She let go of him and watched as his body was changing shape and form! Diancie and the other Carbink were watching Bagon as well, he was evolving! It was truly a sight too, it lit up the room pretty well!

"You're... Evolving!" Melanie gasped, smiling happily for her Pokémon.

Once the light started dying down, Bagon finally revealed himself, in his newly evolved form! He evolved into a Shelgon!

"Shelgon!" His voice was a bit deeper than before, and now he was on all four legs, standing proudly!

"Shelgon huh?" Melanie noticed his new name, and looked at her new Pokémon.

He looked very intimidating just like before, but his body looked totally different! There were bone structures covering it's body, which formed into a shell with two openings, and three ridges on the top of it. One opening was in the front, revealing two yellow evil looking eyes, while the other opening was on it's back!

"Awesome, you evolved!" Melanie celebrated happily.

"What? He's still standing after that?" Diancie was frustrated at the fact that her opponent looked healthy.

Shelgon felt more powerful than before, and demonstrated his power by opening his jaws, revealing the sharp fangs in his mouth! After he finished doing that, he used a move that allowed one of his paws to grow long sharp claws, except... They were colored navy blue, mixed with a hint of purple in them as well!

"New moves huh?" Melanie wondered, examining his new attacks.

She didn't know what they were called, but she would just have to work with it for now...

"Go Shelgon!" Melanie pointed towards Diancie, happy to see that he was healthy again!

She watched as Shelgon started running towards his opponent, going pretty fast! However, Diancie was bracing herself for this, not knowing what he would attack with next.

"Harden!" Diancie shouted, summoning that same metal armor back onto her body from earlier!

Shelgon used Ember, and shot the fiery ball towards her, thinking that would break the armor!

"That's not going to work! Reflect!" The princess used the move, and waited for the right time to deflect the move back.

Once it reached her, she deflected it with ease, and it started heading back towards Shelgon at a very fast pace! He was ready for that to happen, so he jumped up into the air and did the same thing back! He used Dragon Claw, and used the long claw to shoot the Ember back at her!

"W-What?!" Diancie gasped in shock.

Not knowing that this would happen, she took the Ember attack directly to the chest, but it didn't do much damage to her, it only stunned her for a couple of seconds. But, it gave Shelgon another chance to attack! He was still running at her, and he opened his mouth, showing those sharp fangs yet again! Once he reached her, he leaped at her from one of the crystals on the ground, and bit down hard onto her headdress, using Crunch!

"YAHH!" Diancie screamed from the jaws biting down on her head.

Shelgon took a couple of bites, scratching some of the gems on her forehead! Once he was finished using the move, he brought her down to the floor, landing on top of her with all of his heavy body weight!

"AH! Gr..." The princess lost all of her breath upon the impact, laying on the rocky floor.

Shelgon got off of her, thinking she had enough, and simply just waited for her to get back up again. But... She never did, she was just lying there, breathing heavily! She looked pretty exhausted, and the gems on her forehead were all scratched up! Eventually though, she opened her eyes and hovered up slowly...

"W-Wh..." She stuttered when she spoke, not knowing what to say.

She flew over to one of the crystals as fast as possible, and examined herself in the mirror. She looked over her body for any injuries, until she noticed the scratched marks on her forehead!

"W-WHAT!?" She screamed in rage.

She touched one of the crystals with her hand, and rubbed it slowly, trying to get rid of the scratched marks... But they didn't come off, they were permanent scratches!

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" She turned back around and screamed at her two opponents, giving them serious death glares.

"What do you mean what did we do? You were the one who wanted to battle in the first place!" Melanie argued, backing up herself.

"No... YOU SCRATCHED MY GEMS! MY BEAUTIFUL GEMS ARE RUINED NOW!" Diancie whined like a little brat, flying above them both.

She hovered just above them, and she looked pretty angry. The Carbink around them were shaking in fear, never seeing her like this before...

"You have no idea... What I'm capable of... Do you know that?" The princess mumbled softly, clenching her fists.

"Huh?" Melanie asked, curious to see what would happen next.

"It's time..." Diancie started talking again, touching the golden ring around her neck.

Once she touched it, there was a pinkish whitish colored aura surrounding her body! It started shining as bright as the sun, and it blinded everyone who was watching! Melanie took her eyes away, and ran over to Shelgon to cover his eyes so he wouldn't become blind from the brightness of the aura! There was a loud chattering noise that came from the aura, and it completely surrounded Diancie in a crystal-like cocoon shell! It was a beautiful sight to look at, and the noise just kept on getting louder and louder. After a while or so... There was a sudden "BOOM!" explosion that occurred, and the crystal shell blew up! The crystalline pieces shattered quickly, and they started dropping to the floor. The brightness of the aura started fading away slowly, and it revealed Diancie again!

"What's happening now?" Melanie asked in fear, looking back to the princess.

"The Royal Pink Princess... Is reborn and much stronger than before!" Diancie announced.

She looked very different than before, and everyone was shocked to see her new appearance! She still had the same colors of course, but the dress on her chest was much larger, and it's structure consisted of brighter reflective pink gems! The rhomboid gem on the back of her head became more rounded, along with two smaller gems growing from it at the bottom of it! There were more gold pieces that supported the large diamond at the lower part of her body. It's centerpiece became a heart-cut instead of a diamond shaped cut, and it also gained two ribbon-like structures growing from the two small gems on the back of it's head, which were tipped by two smaller floating rhomboid gems on each ribbon! The two long pink crystals behind its head shrunk into one, and two more of these crystals were hanging from the centerpiece, which were also tipped by a small floating rhomboid gem on each of them! The gold crescent necklace was bigger than before, and it circled it's torso like it used to. The scratches that were on her forehead's gems were also completely gone as well! Now, she was the Royal Pink Princess of Diamond Domain, and she Mega Evolved herself! A great and powerful aura surrounded her body, and it truly was a beautiful thing to witness! The Carbink's eyes were glittering as they looked up to their princess in joy! Melanie felt the power emitting from her aura, and she could tell that Diancie was even stronger than before! The princess eventually floated her way down to Melanie's level, and looked down at her in amusement, admiring the look on her face.

"What's wrong?" She asked Melanie about the admired stare, tilting her head and smirking at her.

"T-That was..." Melanie couldn't find the words, she was still taken by the beauty of the transformation.

"Beautiful? I know... and by the way... DIAMOND STOOOORRRM!" Diancie shouted loudly.

Melanie and Shelgon looked at the Mega Evolved legendary in total shock once again. They watched her summon that same pink beam wave of light again, but this time... The beam was much larger than the last, covering most of the room! The Carbink started running away to hide from the incoming attack, and Melanie watched them all flee from their princess.

"Oh no!" She mumbled.

She picked up Shelgon and lifted him up with all of her strength, trying to find a safe place to hide from the move. She eventually spotted a large crystal big enough to hide behind, so she took him there, and covered him, protecting him from anything else!

"Shel!" Shelgon gasped in surprise.

"Jeez! For a small Pokémon, you're pretty heavy!" Melanie complained.

The next thing they saw were the large diamond pieces raining all over the arena. Luckily, the shard they were behind was pretty stable, so they were protected either way. But everything else was getting destroyed! The shards pierced through smaller crystals, and it felt like an earthquake! All they could do was just hide, and Diancie wasn't giving up... She just kept on using the move over and over again, using a lot of her energy to do so.

"DIANCIE!" Melanie screamed for her to stop.

She was definitely going to seriously hurt someone at this point, and Melanie wanted her to calm down.

"GRRR! STOP TALKING!" The princess refused to listen to her, so she summoned even more waves of the attack!

One of the shards took off a chunk of the crystal Melanie was hiding behind, and it startled her and Shelgon!

"Shoot!" Melanie ducked her head closer to the ground, trying to avoid getting struck.

"Gon!" Shelgon was shaking in fear, and that only made Melanie hug him even tighter.

"It's okay! We'll be okay! Nothing bad is going to hap- WOAH!" She gasped when half of the crystal chipped off, falling to the side!

The storm didn't look like it would end anytime soon... And Melanie needed another place to hide at! The crystal would eventually be torn to pieces, and she could get seriously injured. Those shards were made of pure gems, they were very sharp, almost like a knife! After looking around with adrenaline coursing through her veins, she spotted a better crystal pillar to hide behind!

"There's my chance, Go Shelgon... Before it's too late." Melanie mumbled.

She threw him over to the crystal, which was only a few feet away from where they were at, and he face planted onto the ground shortly after...

"Shel!" He got up to give her an annoyed grunting attitude.

"Oh relax! This isn't the time to be mad at me, now all I have to do is make it there too." Melanie replied back, rolling her eyes.

She waited for the perfect opportunity she could get, hoping that she wouldn't get hurt from any of the falling shards. Once she found the chance, she sprinted across the open gap, uncovered from the crystals! She was exposed to the falling shards, but she just ignored them, as she continued to make her way over to Shelgon.

"Almost ther-GAH!" She lost her breath when she felt a crystalline shard piercing through her shoulder!

She ignored the pain, and dived to her Pokémon, hiding behind the cover that the crystal provided for her.

"O-Ow!" She groaned painfully, rubbing her forehead.

"Shelgon!" He sounded concerned for her, looking at her injury.

"I'm all... Alright..." Melanie froze in a painful shock.

She looked over to her shoulder and the shard was digging into her skin. It ripped off a piece of her shirt, but not too much... She tried touching the crystal, but a sharp stinging pain struck her! It was a pretty big shard too, and it was agonizing!

"Ow! Owowow! Okay! Okay! Let's-SAH!" She tried touching the crystal yet again, but she just couldn't...

She saw little droplets of blood starting to come out of the wound, and that only worried Shelgon more.

"Gon!" He sat closer to her, hoping she was going to be okay.

"I'll be okay..." She whispered back, just so he wouldn't be concerned about her injury anymore.

"Just gotta... *huff!* AHHH!" She screamed in pain, while she was pulling the shard out of her shoulder.

She yanked it out in one hard single pull, and looked at the shard for a while longer. It had a tiny portion of blood on the bottom of it's tip, and she eventually let it drop to the ground.

"Jeez! Okay... I can do this..." Melanie told herself.

She looked at her shoulder and saw more blood dripping out of the open wound, and she immediately covered it with one of her hands.

"Ow! T-This looks bad... It-It hurts so much!" Melanie couldn't handle the stinging pain much longer.

She petted Shelgon with her other freehand, just so he could be comfortable, which he was! After a couple of more seconds passing by, Melanie took a quick peek at Diancie, and noticed something strange about her. The Diamond Storm was completely gone, and the aura started fading away too. Once that happened, Melanie saw Diancie immediately changing form again! She changed out of Mega Evolution, and she fell to the rocky ground, hard like an anvil!

"Diancie?" Melanie shouted towards the princess.

 _ **Play Song!: (Crystal Crossing - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness Music Extended :watch?v=_K1xo1iBBoo&t=5s)**_

She ignored her injury, and proceeded to walk up to the legendary Pokémon. She heard Diancie's heavy breathing, and she could tell that she was exhausted from the battle already! Shelgon was right behind her, preparing for Diancie to attack them again, but she still laid there on the floor, looking unconscious.

"She must be tired or something..." Melanie took a guess as to what happened.

She knelt down to Diancie's level, and tried looking to see if the princess was alive or not. Eventually though, Diancie reopened her eyes once again, showing fear towards Melanie.

"Don't be afraid Diancie... I'm a friend, remember? I'm not here to cause trouble!" Melanie spoke softly again, trying to calm Diancie down!

"G-Get away from me, all you humans are forever known to be thieves and hunters! I can't trust you at all!" Diancie defended her kingdom's belief towards humans.

"Here... Just let me do this for you..." Melanie whispered into her ear, pulling out a weird colored medicine bottle from her bag.

It was a brightly pink fluid type of medicine, and she showed Diancie the bottle!

"What's THAT SUPPOSED TO DO?" Diancie wondered curiously, giving her an attitude.

"It'll heal you up..." Melanie briefly explained what it did.

That's when Diancie noticed the cut on her shoulder, it was big, and there was obviously blood starting to drip down her arm.

"Doesn't... That hurt? Shouldn't you focus on your wound first?" Diancie asked, watching her carefully.

"I should... But I can get through the pain, it's just a simple wound. Right now, I'm only focused on you." Melanie mumbled back, spraying the medicine on Diancie's body.

As soon as the liquid made contact with her body, the princess felt relieved, and the pain immediately left! She felt healthy again, and she flew back up into the air.

"W-What did you do to me? I'm feeling a lot better and more energized!" The princess looked to Melanie in surprise.

"I know you are, it's called a Hyper Potion. It'll heal you up, and it'll give you more energy to fight." Melanie replied back to the mythical, while holding onto her shoulder.

Diancie didn't expect any of this to happen, she expected Melanie to be a hunter, and terrorize her home, but she was the opposite of that nature...

"So... You weren't really, here to harm any of my people?" Diancie asked, flying closer to her.

"Y-Yeah... I care about Pokémon, a lot you know! Even if you hurt me, that still won't change the way I think about you... You're a really beautiful princess!" She complimented the legendary, causing her to blush adorably.

Melanie went ahead and started petting her headdress, trying to be gentle with her. Upon the contact, Diancie's eyes widened in shock! She's never been touched by a human before, and it actually felt... Nice, in a good way!

"H-Huh?" Diancie simply stared at Melanie, and couldn't help but nuzzle her head back!

"Feels good huh?" Melanie giggled at her reaction.

"It... It feels nice." Diancie forced a friendly smile back.

She didn't know what to think about this, it felt really good, but she's never felt it before. Something about it made her happy, and the Carbink started gathering them.

"Car?" They all started mumbling silently.

Diancie flew away from Melanie a bit, and hovered over her injured shoulder.

"Are you going to be alright?" Diancie asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine..." Melanie sighed heavily.

She took off her bag and started searching through it carefully. Diancie and Shelgon were wondering what she was looking for. After a while of searching, She eventually pulled out a small shirt, one that would barely fit her... She looked over her shoulder, and dried the blood away from her arm. Once she finished doing that, she wrapped the shirt around her shoulder, and tied it between her armpit so that it would stay on. Pretty soon, she looked over to Diancie again, and grinned happily at her.

"T-Thanks again... For um, for healing me up there with that pink water." Diancie blushed, bowing to her respectfully.

"No problem... And don't worry about hurting me back there either." Melanie chuckled back to the Pokémon.

"Shelll!" Shelgon yawned, he was exhausted from the battle.

He nudged his head against Melanie's foot, and she instantly knew what he wanted from her.

"You were great Shelgon, you should take a nice long rest." She giggled, while petting his head softly.

She returned him back into his Pokéball, and put it back into her bag. She put it on and then turned to face Diancie again.

"So, now what?" She asked her, feeling nervous about the bet they made.

"Well... You lost the bet, I won the battle!" Diancie announced, smirking happily.

"WHAT?! NO WAY! You fainted from exhaustion!" Melanie argued back.

"I don't care..." Diancie crossed her arms.

That's when Melanie finally decided to put her foot down. She certainly wasn't going to let her win this argument so easily.

"GIVE ME MY FRIEND BACK! OTHERWISE YOU'LL REGRET IT!" She screamed.

She startled Diancie, along with her other soldiers too!

"Calm down! I'm not finished yet!" Diancie crossed her arms, giggling cutely.

"What?" Melanie tilted her head, confused.

"You won the battle anyways!" Diancie finished speaking, laughing at her angry reaction.

"You little... COME HERE!" Melanie screamed yet again.

She jumped towards the floating legendary and grabbed her, scaring her half to death! Diancie expected Melanie to hit her, but that never happened... She just tickled her by her chest, and it was enough to make Diancie laugh uncontrollably.

"CAR?!" The Carbink soldiers looked alert, ready to attack Melanie to protect their princess.

"W-Wait! Aha! Wait, no! It's no big deal!" Diancie giggled, enjoying the sudden affection.

"There, now who won?" Melanie asked, letting go of the princess.

"Hm... Let me think... ME!" Diancie pointed towards herself, in a proud stance.

"I'm just still... Shocked at how you transformed there, you changed your form!" Melanie exclaimed, remembering her Mega Evolution transformation.

"Oh yeah, that? It takes a lot of energy for me to do that... It's really tiring once you're in it for a while..." Diancie sighed, looking to the floor next.

"Yeah... Just wish my friend could've seen that, he would've been amazed." Melanie reminded herself of Alex again.

"You want to see him don't you?" Diancie asked her.

"C-Can you please bring him back to me?" Melanie sounded desperate again.

"Yeah, of course I can... I think?" Diancie rubbed her chin slowly, thinking about it.

"What do you mean you think?" Melanie asked in a worried tone.

"Well... I don't know how to exactly... Um, bring him back to the real world. I've never seen anyone being taken away by a mirror like that. He was practically-" Diancie began explaining to her that she couldn't do it, but Melanie had already cut her off from speaking any longer.

"I guess I'll never be able to see him ever again then..." She let out a depressing sigh once again, and knelt down to the floor.

He was gone... Gone forever, and there was no way to free him at all... That's when her heart started beating rapidly again, and it didn't feel good at all. It was an aching pain, and it was something she's never normally felt before.

"What's wrong?" Diancie wondered, hovering closer to Melanie.

"N-Nothing..." She replied back, simply looking away from the mythical creature.

"You miss him don't you?" The princess asked more questions, noticing the sudden change of tone in her voice.

"Yeah... I do miss him, a lot... He's one of my closest friends, and the other one... I don't know how I'm going to tell him about all of this..." Melanie replied.

"I'm sorry..." Diancie put her hand onto Melanie's other shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"Are you sure there's no absolute way to bring him back? You don't have enough power to do that?" Melanie asked, just to make sure.

"I've never seen it happen before, so I wouldn't know what to do..." Diancie mumbled back, feeling embarrassed that she couldn't help.

"Ring!" A sudden clattering ringing noise appeared out of nowhere, surprising both of them.

"What was that?" Melanie stood up straight again, and got back up onto her feet.

"Ring!" There it was again, the noise played back.

"It sounds like... It was coming from over there!" Diancie turned around and noticed one of the crystal pillars.

There was something strange about it, and it looked very reflective, like a mirror almost! She flew over to it as fast as she could, and examined it closely.

"This crystal looks... It doesn't look right!" She pointed out, hearing footsteps from behind.

Melanie finally made her way towards the mirror, and looked at it carefully. It was really reflective, and they could see their own reflections crystal clear! All of a sudden, a familiar arm popped out from the mirror, and Melanie instantly recognized it! It looked like it belonged to Alex, and she watched as the arm started revealing his whole body next!

"Gr, Gr, GRAAHH!" The familiar voice played back in her mind.

She saw Alex fighting his way through the crystal, trying to escape from its grasp!

"Alex!?" Melanie gasped in shock, taking a few steps closer to him.

She went ahead and pulled his arm as tight as she could, helping him through the mirror! Diancie helped Melanie and pulled her too, using all of her own strength!

"PULLLL!" He screamed at her, with his head revealing through the crystal next!

With all of her might, and one final pull, Melanie didn't ever give up, and she eventually pulled him entirely through the crystal, causing her to stumble back! Alex landed on the ground beside her, gasping for air!

"GAH!" He breathed heavily, checking his surroundings.

Melanie sat up from where she was at, and he did the exact same thing! Upon seeing each other, they didn't know if one another were real or not!

"Melanie?!" Is that really you?" Alex asked in shock.

"Y-Yes! It's me!" She didn't have to be told twice...

She immediately tackled him into a playful hug, taking him by surprise!

"I'm back! I'm finally back!" Alex was so happy to see her again!

The two of them blushed lightly, and Alex held onto her tightly. The hug felt warm and nice, and Melanie felt the same way! After a few more seconds of embracing each other, both of them realized what they were doing, and they backed away from each other nervously. The blushes on their faces intensified in color, and Diancie was the first to notice it.

"This your boyfriend?" She whispered just enough for Melanie to hear her only.

"N-No!" Melanie shook her head back towards the princess, rolling her eyes sarcastically.

Alex couldn't help but stare at his friend, this felt like the perfect opportunity to show her that he truly cared about her. The first thing he noticed was the bandage around her shoulder, and the light blood stains on her arm gave it away too.

"A-Are you okay?" He asked, examining her arm.

"Yeah! I'm okay, I'm okay!" She answered, just so he wouldn't have to worry about her.

"G-Good... I-... What happened while I was gone?" He wondered curiously.

"I have a lot to talk to you about..." Melanie answered back, feeling a little nervous.

"O-Okay!" Alex gulped nervously, hoping it wouldn't be too bad.


	15. Ch 15, A Springing Summer Discovery!

_**Ch. 15, A Springing Summer Discovery!**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Mahalo Trail - Pokemon Sun & Pokemon Moon Music Extended: watch?v=ploHp25AX-M)**_

"Thank you for bringing us here... Hopefully our other friend is outside waiting for us." Melanie started off, bowing down to the rock princess.

"My pleasure, he should be out there. So don't worry about it okay? Best of luck to you both on your journies! You're the first humans I've ever befriended!" Diancie bowed back, respecting them both.

Diancie finally led them out of her domain, and they were pretty much at the end of Reflection Cave. It was quite the adventure... And it truly was a magnificent and strange place to explore. Alex never expected any of this to happen, and he's been having a lot of second thoughts about the whole thing. The only important thing that mattered, was that he was back in his own world, with his closest friend!

"Goodbye you two! It was fun!" Diancie waved both of them goodbye, grinning happily at the two Trainers.

"Thank you! Goodbyeee!" Melanie shouted, while walking down the rest of the cave's pathway.

The tunnel they were going through was lit up by the sunlight coming in from outside at the end. It provided them enough light to see, and the two friends continued their way out of the cave. As soon as they were doing that, Diancie had already left them alone, going back to her royal cave. After a brief moment of silence, Alex scratched the back of his head nervously, feeling his heart beat from the awkward since. Melanie was standing awfully close to him, rubbing her shoulder against his own on purpose!

"Hey Melanie..." He decided to start off a conversation with her.

"What is it?" She looked at him straight in the eye, wondering what he was going to say to her.

"Do you remember when you told me you had a lot to talk about... About everything happening?" He asked, trying to remind her of her own question earlier.

"Of course I remember... I just wanted to talk to you about everything that's happened..." Melanie sighed slightly, nodding her head quickly.

"Well... Are you really okay?" Alex continued asking her questions, staring blankly at the bandage on her shoulder.

"I'm fine, I just had a battle with her back there... She used some hail storm attack, and a sharp crystal shard struck my shoulder. It hurt a lot, but I'm pretty sure I'll be okay." She answered back, blushing lightly from seeing that he cared about her.

"Well I'm glad you're okay, it would be pretty bad if you weren't!" Alex chuckled silently.

"Heh, yeah! A lot actually happened though, something pretty exciting!" Melanie grinned in return.

"Ooo? Exciting huh? Tell me!" Alex was interested into what she had in store for him.

"Bagon evolved into a Shelgon!" She finally announced, surprising him!

"Woah! Really? Show him!" Alex's eyes widened in surprise!

Melanie went ahead and pulled out Shelgon's Pokéball, then she opened the device, bringing him out! The Pokémon landed on the ground, and he looked pretty happy to see Alex again!

"Shel-gon!" He cried out, standing proudly.

"Awesome! He looks so different than before!" Alex pointed out, admiring the look of the Dragon Type.

He wanted to know more about the Pokémon, so he took out his trusty Pokédex, and scanned it!

"Shelgon the quadruped Shell-Like Pokémon, and the evolved form of Bagon. It's armored body makes all attacks bounce off. The armor is too tough, however, making it heavy and somewhat sluggish. When awaiting evolution, this Pokémon hides away in a cavern." The Pokédex started explaining more information about Shelgon.

"Sounds like a really cool Pokémon." Alex complimented him.

"Shel!" Shelgon happily nodded in agreement, then he jumped up into Melanie's arms.

She caught him easily, but his heavy weight brought her down a bit, causing her to stumble.

"W-Woah! Jeez! You should tell me before jumping onto me like that... You're like carrying a pile of heavy boulders!" Melanie complained.

Shelgon started laughing out loud at his Trainer. He didn't expect her to stumble like that, which surprised him.

"What about you Alex?" Melanie asked in return, wondering what he was going through in the mirrored world.

He was silent about it for a while, not speaking a single word back to her question. She was confused by his sudden silence, starting to feel bad for him. She didn't know whether or not her question was bad... She didn't mean to upset him or anything like that, she was just curious.

"It was... Well, it was-" Alex started telling her his story, but he was cutoff from a very loud voice shouting at both of them.

"GUYS!"

They were taken by surprise, from a very familiar voice. They started approaching the exit to the cave, as more light emitted from outside! Once they finally reached the exit, they were outside of the cave!

"Looks like we finally made it out." Melanie mumbled.

"Yeah, was that-" Alex tried speaking again, but that same voice interrupted him!

"YOU GUYS ARE HERE!"

They looked around themselves, wondering where the voice came from. All of a sudden, Alex was tackled by James! He popped out of nowhere!

"Alex! You're back!" James cheered.

"Ah! Okay okay! JAMES?" Alex asked.

He got up from the floor, and saw James backing away from him.

"You're back!" James smiled widely at him.

"Yeah, I'm finally back home again!" Alex chuckled back to his friend, happy to see him again.

"Hi James!" Melanie gave him a warm welcoming smile, waving slightly.

"Melanie, I'm... I've been looking everywhere for you! I couldn't find-" James started apologizing to her, but she already stopped him.

"It's okay! We're all together again right? That's much more important." She replied.

He noticed the bandage around her arm, and saw hints of dried blood on the white shirt. He showed her a look of concern, but also realized that she still had a smile on her face, so she was fine!

"Good... Well I'm glad you're both okay! I was getting really worried ever since we got separated back in the cave." James sighed in relief.

He noticed Shelgon in her arms, and gave her an enthusiastic grin!

"So... Shall we continue down the road?" Alex offered both of them, hoping to get back on their journey together.

"Yeah sure! But you were actually wrong from earlier... Shalour City is still pretty far away." James exclaimed.

"The map said that it was right after Reflection Cave, was I really wrong about that?" Alex asked in disappointment.

He was hoping to get there as fast as he could, so that he could get his next Gym Badge. He was also hoping that no Aether would show up too. He pulled out the map that he had, and opened it up quickly, going over it carefully. After realizing his mistake he noticed that Shalour City wasn't the next place they would arrive to after the cave. There was a little spot on the map that looked like a small village almost, it was located next to a beach too!

"Guess you're right..." Alex sighed heavily.

"Hey, don't worry! You don't need to go after your Gym Badge so soon." James patted him on the back, trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah! Who knows, maybe the village is really cool or something!" Melanie joined in.

She walked ahead of the two boys and led them down the road, leaving the cave behind them. The amount of the glowing crystals started to drop as they continued on forward. The pathway was pretty empty, there weren't any Pokémon in sight of course, but there were still plenty of trees everywhere surrounding them. The crystals occasionally glowed from blue to pink majestically, and it only reminded Melanie of Diancie. She was still pretty shocked that she met another legendary Pokémon, especially a princess! She seemed like a really powerful Pokémon, considering her transformation! She checked up on her shoulder every now and then, and the painful stinging wasn't there anymore. It was already healing pretty quickly, but there were still bloody spots on the white shirt covering it.

"Sheeell!" The Shell Pokémon in her arms yawned adorably, which distracted her from thinking about her wound.

She looked down and smiled at the creature who was sleeping in her arms peacefully. Taking out the Pokéball yet again, Melanie returned him back into his ball so that he could rest some more. He must've been exhausted, especially since he just battled Diancie.

"Goodnight Shelgon." Melanie whispered into the Pokémon's side-ear, putting the device back into her ball.

She could freely move her arms again, and that heavyweight coming from him was finally gone... Then, she occasionally looked at Alex really quick, just to look at him. He was already leading her and James on, going ahead of them.

"He's so..." She began talking to herself quietly, so that he wouldn't hear any of her words.

."What? He's so what?" James popped up from behind, scaring her!

He showed her a devilish smile, and made her feel nervous all of a sudden!

"W-What? I didn't say anything!" She argued, crossing her arms and looking off to one of the trees they were passing by.

"Hm... Sure, when're you going to ask him out on a date?" James teased her on, hoping to get it out of her.

"Me? Going on a date with him? P-Please... I don't even see him in that way..." She gave him a small attitude, trying to keep her voice down at the same time.

"Admit it!" James shouted.

"What're you guys talking about?" Alex was interested in their side conversation, overhearing James loud yelling...

"N-Nothing!" Melanie replied back, blushing lightly.

The pink color in her blush clearly gave it away, and James started examining her body movements as well. She was shaking a bit, feeling nervous and scared about James finding out... But he was already onto her...

"It's true!" He smiled at her, trying to be friendly with her next.

"It's... It's..." She started stuttering, and the blush darkened to a red color, it was obvious now!

"It's okay, just admit it! I'll help you with him." James offered, with his hands wrapped behind his head.

"Okay fine... It's... It's-It's true, okay? I might have... Small feelings for him." She finally admitted it to him, answering his longtime question.

"I knew it! And as small, you mean big right?" He asked yet again, making her feel even more humiliated.

"Shut up..." She pushed him away lightly, trying to get away from him.

She walked up closer to Alex and joined him, leaving James behind. He couldn't help but laugh at how she was acting over this whole thing! She was hiding her answer from him, and he finally got what he wanted to know! She had a crush on Alex, and he was going to help her with it.

"Yeah, I'll help you... Question is whether or not he'll feel the same way." James started talking to himself.

He looked around the environment, admiring the peaceful atmosphere. It was really enjoyable, and Kalos sure was a peaceful region to travel in. They've seen a lot already, and he couldn't wait for whatever was about to come next! He started getting flashbacks of being back in Hoenn, remembering when he was allowed to travel the region on his own. The first city he's ever been to was Mauville City, and it was a really big and beautiful city to explore!

 _ **Flashback!**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Rustboro / Mauville / Mossdeep City - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=1SthfjxYXTA)**_

It was a beautiful day in the Hoenn region, in Mauville City of course! It was really big, almost as big as Lumiose City! It was located at the center heart of the region, and it was populated by a lot of people and Pokémon! James was there, along with his Pokémon! He was carrying Squirtle in his arms, and he was just dropped off by his uncle. He would occasionally go to Mauville City, just for schooling and education to learn more about Pokémon!

"Okay... So, where's class meeting at today?" James wondered, walking around the streets aimlessly.

Squirtle rolled his eyes in annoyance, he looked pretty bored and he wanted to do something else...

"Squirt, Squiirrrtleee..." He groaned heavily, bored out of his life!

"Oh stop it, every time we go to school you always do this!" James yelled at the Water Type.

"SQUIRT! SQUI!" He continued whining like a little baby.

"Is it because you're bored?" James asked his partner.

"Uirt!" He nodded his head in response,

"Look I know you're bored. Believe me, I don't wanna go to school either... But at least we found a way for you to hide from that one stranger whose been following us around." James mumbled to him.

Squirtle nodded once again, yawning to show that he was indeed tired...

They finally made it to where the Trainer school was, and it was a pretty small room. James walked right into the building, and there was only one room. There were desks and chairs of course to sit at, and there was also enough room for Pokémon as well! Being his usual self... He was late to class, and he was missing part of his lesson! They usually taught him how to raise Pokémon properly, as well as caring for them, bathing them, feeding them, etc... He already knew this stuff though, the only reason he truly wanted to go to school was to learn more about them, not raising them... But he needed to start in levels, the beginner lessons were just raising them. And you couldn't move onto the next lesson without passing the first one either.

"James? Late as usual... How nice of you to join us this morning..." The teacher welcomed him into the classroom, grunting at him.

James took his seat at the one the desks in the far back, ignoring the rest of his classmates who were simply just staring him down.

"Okay... Anyways! Today is your lesson's final exam! If you pass, then you can move up into the next lesson." The Teacher announced.

"But Mr. S, what if we fail the test?" One student asked, with his hand raised up.

"Pfft... Stupid question..." James rolled his eyes at the younger student.

"We've been over this a million times now Jack! If you fail, then you'll have to repeat the course... Enough said! Now, nobody has ever failed this test in my years of teaching, it's simple." Mr. S answered the kid's question.

"Better be..." James rolled his eyes in annoyance, crossing his arms.

He ignored the teacher for a while longer, just glancing at his Squirtle who was sitting on the desk minding his own business.

"Well, at least it's the end of the class... We've been doing a really good job just keeping your identity a secret from everyone." James smiled, whispering into his Pokémon's ear.

He rubbed Squirtle's head gently, knowing that he was actually Zorua still! Ever since they encountered that Team Magma grunt back on their first route together, Zorua revealed his powers to James. He showed him his capability to transform into other humans and Pokémon, taking their appearance, as well as their moves! He was a mischievous Pokémon, and occasionally got himself into trouble, but James found him amusing to be partners with. They agreed that it would be safer for him to stay as a Squirtle, just so other people wouldn't try and steal him. James knew he was rare, so it was the only way to keep him safe from any harm.

"James!" The teacher called on him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"H-Huh? What! What is it Mr. S?" James asked in surprise, not expecting it at all.

"Tell me, what do Trainers need to know first, before taking care of their Pokémon?" Mr. S asked him a question out of nowhere.

"Easy, every Trainer should know their own Pokémon's Type! That way, they know what kind of food they like, and how to care for them properly." James answered back confident with his answer.

"Nerd..." One student whispered into his ear from the side.

"What? It's a common sense question..." James defended himself.

"Whatever..." The student replied, putting his hands behind his head casually.

"Anyways! Today's final exam is pretty simple, there's two parts to it, find a berry that your Pokémon will enjoy from the forest, and the second is to show me that your Pokémon truly cares about you. It'll show me that your Pokémon loves you, and it'll also show that you can properly take care of them." Mr. S explained about the final test.

"So when do we start?" Another girl asked.

"We start now! Good luck!" The Teacher finished announcing.

As soon as he finished saying that, every student immediately got up from their seats, and ran out of the classroom. James was left there with his Pokémon, he didn't feel the need to rush.

"Something the matter James?" Mr. S asked, wondering why he wasn't moving yet.

"Well, yes... Yes Mr. S, I might have a problem with the berry hunting." James rubbed the back of his head nervously.

Mr. S got up from his teacher's desk, and started making his way towards James.

"What's wrong with that? That is the requirement for the first lesson." He told him once again.

"Yeah..." James was a little bit scared.

He didn't know whether or not he could trust his teacher to keep a secret.

"Can you keep a secret? Between just us?" James asked, sounding innocent.

"Well, of course I can. You're my student, I wouldn't tell anyone, what's wrong?" Mr. S also noticed the worried tone in his voice.

"How am I supposed to find a berry for my Pokémon's Type?" James proceeded on with his secret.

"He's a Water Type isn't he? Just find a juicy berry, Water Types like those." His teacher responded back, crossing his arms.

"You see... He isn't actually a Water Type..." James mumbled slightly.

"What do you mean? Are you awake today? He's a Squirtle!" Mr. S pointed out, clearly looking at the Pokémon.

"He's a Dark Type!" James argued back, trying not to anger his teacher in any way.

"James! I'm getting tired of this nonsense, always finding an excuse to get out of the classes' lessons. You've been doing this a lot lately, is something wrong with your Squirtle? That it won't allow you to do anything in this class?" Mr. S shouted angrily.

"*Sigh* Guess I'll have to show you then... Zorua... Show yourself." James felt like he could trust his teacher, it was worth a shot right?

"Squirt!" Squirtle nodded, agreeing with his Trainer's command.

He did a quick flip off of the desk, and his own body was engulfed by a bright pinkish purple void colored light. His disguised form was taken off, and he landed back onto the desk, showing his true self! He was a Zorua, a pure Dark Type!

"Zorua!" Zorua cried out, wagging his tail happily.

"See!" James showed his Pokémon to his teacher.

"I do see! Wait, you have an actual Zorua?" Mr. S exclaimed, shocked to see the Illusion Pokémon in front of his eyes.

"Ra!" Zorua giggled evilly and acted adorable.

"Yep, all mines... I saved him from a Team Magma Grunt, back in my hometown. She's been following me everywhere just so she can get her hands on him. But anyways... The real question is how am I supposed to know what Dark Types like? There's so many berries, I can't even list them all!" James explained.

Coming back to his senses, his teacher began thinking about it for a while longer.

"Well... That is an amazing rare Pokémon, but I cannot give you another choice for your final test, it'll be unfair for the rest of your classmates don't you think?" He asked him, trying to be fair for the rest of the class.

"Yeah but-" James started speaking again, but Mr. S had already stopped him from saying another word.

"No buts young man... I understand you have a rare Pokémon, but this is all part of the class. Be safe out there, and stay away from any Team Magma signs, understand me? Now go." The Teacher instructed him what to do.

James sighed in disappointment, and proceeded to pick up his Zorua. Before doing so, Zorua transformed back into Squirtle again, hiding himself.

"Alright fine..." James rolled his eyes, getting up from his desk so that he could leave the classroom.

Once he was finally outside of the class, he looked around the city for a berry shop. Then he eventually came across a list of signs that showed everything in the big city. But sadly, there weren't any berry shops anywhere... The only berries you could find were outside...

"Great... Looks like we have to go outside, which side are we even closest to anyways?" James groaned, frustrated.

He looked on the regional map once again, and tried to find out where he was at in the city. Once he found his location, he realized that the closest route to his side was Route 118.

"Well, looks like we'll have to go there then... I don't even know what kind of berry you Dark Types enjoy..." James looked down to his Squirtle.

"Squirt... Squ..." Squirtle shook his head in response, he didn't even know his own either...

Despite being a Dark Type, his teacher would probably evaluate him on the Dark Type side of things... Mr. S would probably just grade him wrongly...

"Will he be grading me by Water Type or Dark Type?" James thought to himself, confused by his own question.

He was hoping that this would be an easy grade to earn, he should've just kept Zorua's identity a secret... Then he could've just cheated with an Oran Berry instead! He finally found the exit to the city, and looked outside from the large glass doors. He looked around himself, getting the feeling that someone was following him... Nobody was around though, it was just him and his Pokémon.

"Let's get this over with buddy..." James sighed.

He pushed open the glass doors and made it outside of the city. Once he did that, the fresh breeze coming from the ocean blew over his face, and it felt pretty good!

 _ **Play Song!: (Route 119 - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=JcZ0lGOs6OM)**_

"Mmm... I do enjoy that breeze though! C'mon Squirtle, let's go see what kind of Berry is meant for you. We'll just get an Oran Berry, who cares about you being a Dark Type huh?" He laughed after saying that sentence.

He was hoping to get out of this the easy way, maybe his teacher would allow it. He looked off into the route, and saw the shoreline that led to the ocean. It was a big ocean, and there were several other rocks down the path, along with people and Pokémon as well. There were lots of Zigzagoon of course, and several other Bug Types on the trees minding their own business. And the people were just fishing for Magikarp on the shoreline. Other than that, he saw a few of his classmates doing their own little thing, and he wanted to get away from them as far as he could. Without hesitating, he took a different pathway, ignoring the road, and cut his way into the forest area. Pushing through bushes, tree branches, etc... He wasn't going to let any of that stop his path of travel, he was only focused on finding one simple juicy sweet Oran Berry! After making his way through, he came to a small opening, and looked around for any berry bushes he could find.

"Squirtle, do you see anything?" James asked his partner, searching all over for one bush.

"Squirt-le." He shook his head back to his Trainer, not finding a single one.

"Can't you change into a Psychic Type and sense the Oran Berries through your mind or something?" James grunted in frustration.

"No..." He heard a voice in his mind.

"H-Huh?" He was confused by where it came from.

He looked down at his Squirtle and wondered if it was him talking! But sadly... It wasn't, the voice just appeared out of nowhere randomly!

"Who's there?!" James shouted out loud, fully alert for whatever was about to come his way.

"Behind you!" A familiar voice played once again from behind.

"Huh-Whoa!?" James turned around as fast as he could, and saw someone he'd never thought he'd see ever again!

It was that same Team Magma girl that he met back near Littleroot Town, and she looked pretty angry at him! She was holding a Pokéball in her hands, and she was tossing it into the air, continuously catching it easily.

"Don't you ''whoa!?'' Me! Understand James?" The Magma Grunt scared him half to death, giving him an attitude.

"How do you know my name?" He asked back rudely, staring her down intensely.

"Easy... I've been following you silly! You know what I want... You stopped me from catching that Treecko! I know you have it's Pokéball in your bag, so hand it over, RIGHT NOW!" She demanded, holding her hand out to him.

"No way! He's mine, fair and square! Go find a different one yourself you creep!" He stood back, refusing her command.

"How dare you talk to a member of Team Magma like that! I'll make you pay for that child! You and your Zorua are going down! That's right... I know your Squirtle is a Zorua! I've been wanting that Pokémon for a while now! Give him to me as well, otherwise your Pokémon won't get hurt! My boss would greatly appreciate me having such a rare Pokémon! He'd probably promote me!" The Grunt kept on talking confidently.

James wasn't going to let that happen, not one bit! He's not letting his Zorua get taken away so easily from a Magma creep. His Squirtle jumped from his arms and did a flip in the air, transforming back into his normal self!

"ZOR!" Zorua yelled out a battle cry towards the grunt, and he looked pretty intimidating!

"No way that's going to happen, you're the one who's going to lose you freak! Just stop following me, otherwise I'll show you what we're truly capable of!" James warned her, sounding very confident in his answer.

"Ugh! You brats don't ever give up easily! You're all like pests! Worthless Bug Types, that's for sure! This is the last chance I'm giving you, HAND THEN OVER IMMEDIATELY, OR ELSE I'LL SCORCH YOU WITH MY FURY OF FLAMES!" She offered him one more time, getting ready to throw her Pokéball at him.

"NO!" James kept on refusing, not backing down from the fight.

"Fine! In that case, come on out Houndour!" The Grunt announced, throwing her Pokéball into the air.

The Dark and Fire Type Hound-like Pokémon came right out, growling menacingly! He was very intimidating as well, and he looked like he was ready to tear something apart!

"You think that's going to scare us? You should be the one who's scared! Your ''Flames'' mean nothing to us..." James insulted her, making the Grunt even more angry at him!

 _ **Play Song!: (Battle! Team Aqua / Team Magma - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=t3kSNmQ1f2g)**_

"GRR! I'LL SHOW YOU NOW! HOUNDOUR, HOWL!" She commanded her Pokémon, trying to lower Zorua's attack.

"HounDOOUURR!" The wolf-dog-like Pokémon used the move, and the sound waves started travelling towards Zorua at a very fast rate!

"Easy dodge!" James smiled to himself, watching as his Zorua jumped out of the way before the sound waves could hit him.

"Ember!" The Grunt commanded another attack, hoping it would hit her opponent.

Without hesitating to do so, Houndour fired one right away, but fortunately... It was another easy and simple dodge! Zorua did another flip casually, and started giggling towards Houndour.

"YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?" The Grunt continued screaming her lungs out at James furiously, she was practically losing it now.

"No, I just think this is a huge waste of my time..." James crossed his arms, rolling his eyes back at her.

"YOU CAN'T MOCK ME LIKE THAT!" She screamed back.

Her Houndour immediately started running towards Zorua at full speed! He opened his fangs and they caught on fire, he was using Fire Fang! Zorua saw him coming from the corner of his eye, and jumped aside before Houndour could reach him! He used Dark Pulse to counter his Fire Fang attack, and the projectile collided with him, causing a small explosion to occur shortly after it struck him!

"Heh! Heh! Good job Zorua! We got this fight in the bag!" James cheered his Pokémon on, knowing that he was going to win this battle very easily!

"Houndour!" The Grunt called for him.

The Dark Pokémon ran up to her side, and James was wondering what she was doing to him. He watched as she handed the Pokémon a dark black colored orb! The orb was very dull and marble like, and all of a sudden... Houndour had a dark fiery aura around himself! The aura surrounded his body, and then a navy blue colored light formed next! He was evolving into his next form, and he grew very large in size too!

"Uh oh... NO WAY!" James gasped in shock, watching his opponent getting stronger by the second!

The light eventually faded away, and it revealed a scary looking Houndoom!

"Hahaha! IT WORKED! GO GET EM HOUNDOOM!" The Grunt cheered happily, showing her opponents an evil smirk on her face.

"HOUNDOOOOM!" The Pokémon cried out, sprinting towards Zorua at the speed of light!

Zorua was taken by surprise and didn't have any time at all to react back, he felt his body being bitten by the Fiery Fang! The fire engulfed his body, and it burned him slightly! The pain started entering his body, as Houndoom's jaws started closing on him tightly!

"Z-ZOOOR!" Zorua cried out in pain!

"Yes, that's it! CRUSH HIM! CRUSH HIM LIKE THE WEAK ZORUA HE IS!" The Grunt kept on shouting like a maniac.

James was in trouble now, he didn't expect this to go into the wrong direction so quickly! His Zorua was stuck in Houndoom's jaws, and he couldn't get out of there!

"Um! Okay... Let's see... Zorua, try getting out with Dark Pulse one more time!" James yelled, trying to come up with a strategy to counter the Fire Fang attack.

"Zor, RUA!" Zorua cried out, firing another Dark Pulse inside Houndoom's mouth.

The explosion caused him to stumble, and he eventually lost his grip on Zorua, releasing him from his mouth! The next thing that happened, was that Zorua did a couple of flips in the air just so he could back up from his opponent to get more space apart from him.

"Double Team!" James commanded once more, finally going with his strategic battle style!

All of a sudden, tons of fake clones of Zorua started appearing everywhere! They looked so real, that Houndoom couldn't even figure out which was real or not!

"Foul Play!" James kept on going.

"ZORU!" All of the clones spoke at the same time, as one by one started jumping at Houndoom!

Whenever one made contact, he was hit by their attacks, and they never stopped attacking him! They just kept on going and going and going, as they were starting to seriously hurt him now!

"No, that trick isn't going to work! Feint Attack, right now!" The Grunt shouted out another attack once again!

James noticed one clone backing away from the rest, just watching Houndoom attacking all of the other clones! They started disappearing instantly whenever Houndoom made contact with them, and James knew exactly which one was the real Zorua!

"Go! Use Transform and change into Squirtle again!" James announced, shouting over to him.

Zorua did a flip into the air again and transformed back into Squirtle! He knew the move Transform, which made him extremely rare! The move allowed him to take the appearance of any Pokémon, taking their typing, as well as their moves as well!

"Aqua Jet!" James commanded, catching Houndour and The Grunt by surprise.

"HOUND!" Houndour didn't have time to react to the move, and neither did The girl...

The move was super effective, and it did massive damage to him! Once Zorua backed off of him, he remained in his own Squirtle form, and watched his opponent struggling to carry on. Pretty soon, Houndour fell to the grassy ground, fainting from the battle, and leaving James victorious!

"WHAT?!" The Grunt screamed, looking as mad as ever!

"We won the battle fair and square, now leave us alone, or else there's more where that came from!" James threatened her, giving her a death glare.

"Urk! Grr! NEXT TIME WON'T BE SO EASY FOR YOU TO WIN!" The Grunt shrieked at him once again, returning her Pokémon back into his ball.

She took off, running away in the speed of light! It didn't take long until she was completely gone, leaving James and his Zorua alone!

"Good job buddy! I'm proud of you!" James smiled, as his Zorua revealed himself again.

He returned back into his normal self, and jumped up into James' arms, licking his Trainer's face delightfully!

"Okay! Now back to it, where can we find a berry bush... Try and transform into a Psychic Pokémon, and then sense for the bushes through your mind! You can do that right Zorua?" James suggested, looking down at his trusty partner.

"Zorua! Zor, Zo-Rua?" Zorua replied back with a sentence James couldn't understand one bit...

"Um... I don't speak Pokémon, can you do it?" James asked yet again, wondering if he could transform again.

"Zo!" Zorua nodded happily, giving him a cool happy smirk on his face!

He jumped out of James' arms and did that usual glowing flip of his, he came back onto the ground transforming himself into a Gallade!

"Galla!" He stood in a cool stance, impressing his Trainer joyfully!

"Awesome! I've never seen a Pokémon like that before!" James gasped in amazement.

"Gallade!" The Psychic Pokémon replied back, putting a hand on his head and closing his eyes.

He looked as if he were meditating, and he was trying to sense through his mind. Eventually, something popped up and he pointed into a random direction!

"Is that where the bush is located?" James asked just to be sure.

"Gal!" His Zorua nodded his head in agreement, moving on forward past the bushes around them.

James followed his Pokémon as he led him through the thick bushes. After passing by each one, they bothered several Bug Types, but they tried their best not to do so... They eventually arrived at a very small opening in the forest, and James smiled at what he saw! There were lots of Oran Berry bushes around the area, and there were plenty of them too!

"Good job Galla- I mean... Zorua!" James laughed after he corrected himself.

Zorua growled at him, while returning back into his normal self. He jumped onto James' head with ease, taking a short nap to rest for a bit.

"Good, I'll be able to pass this exam no sweat!" James continued to grin confidently, while looking for the best berry he could find.

There was one in particular that stood out from the rest, it was big, it was juicy, it was blue, and it was a delicious berry! It was the size of his hand, and he plucked it off of the bush carefully. He found the perfect berry for Zorua!

"Yes! Now all I have to do is get back to the class. I'm sure I'll be the first one back!" James thought to himself, walking back to his class as quickly as he could.

 _ **Flashback end!**_

And even though he encountered that one girl from Team Magma, his teacher let it slide! He passed the class, and he eventually moved up the lessons!

"Thank Arceus that girl is gone..." James chuckled to himself, looking in front of his friends again.

They were pretty far from Reflection Cave, and they came upon a small hill that led them downwards to somewhere else.

"Alex, how long until we get there?" James groaned, starting to get impatient.

"Um... We should almost be there soon, it's not long until we reach the village." Alex replied back, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

It was at that very moment until Alex collided with something big and heavy! He stumbled back from the collision, almost falling to the ground! Since Melanie was right beside him, she caught him before he could fall on his back, and she helped him back up right after.

"Thanks Melanie!" He thanked her, getting himself back up.

"N-No problem!" She blushed lightly, continuing to help him up.

Once again, James noticed her blush, and couldn't help but laugh at the look of it.

"Alex!" A familiar voice called to them.

Alex looked back to whatever he bumped himself into and noticed a big welcoming sign greeting them!

It read, "Welcome to Pokémon Summer Camp! A place where Trainers and Pokémon can bond with others in the funnest way possible!"

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokémon Sun & Moon OST - Malie City (Day) Theme Extended: watch?v=dB3gWdVKAfA&t=263s)**_

"So it's not a village?" James pointed out, raising his eyebrow towards Alex.

"I thought it would be a village, give me a break! Wait... Is that?" Alex looked behind the sign, only to see a very familiar looking face!

It was Professor Sycamore, and he was heading his way towards our group of friends! Once he reached them, he greeted them all by saying,

"Alex! You three made it here!"

"Hi Professor!" All three of them greeted him, waving back happily!

"It's nice to see you three again, how're you all doing? I haven't seen you guys since Brackish Town!" He gave them a warm welcoming smile on his face.

"Really good! We just got out of Reflection Cave!" Melanie was the first to talk back.

"Yeah what she said! We thought Shalour City would be after the cave, it's the main reason why we're confused on look of this... Camp? Is that what it is?" Alex joined in, wondering curiously.

"Yes, you're correct... I'm happy to see you're all well! Welcome to the Pokémon Summer Camp!" The Professor welcomed them once again.

He started walking off into the camp's entrance, while our group followed right after him. They looked around the camp and noticed a lot of things about it! There were a ton of Trainers around the campus that looked right around their age group, and they even had all kinds of Pokémon beside them too! There was a large building at the center of the camp, as well as other stairways and walkways too! Along the left side of the campus, there was the shoreline with a large, big and beautiful blue clear ocean shining from the glistening sun! Along the right side of the camp, just behind the center building, there were several cabin houses too! It looked like a peaceful place, and everyone seemed friendly as well!

"What is this place anyways?" James was the first to ask about the camp, amazed by what he saw so far.

"It's called the Pokémon Summer Camp! Here, Trainers and Pokémon come from all over the region, just to build their friendship and trust towards one another! Everyone here is friendly, so don't be afraid to say hi to anyone while you're at it! I come here sometimes just to host it! There's teams that compete to be the top team in the whole camp, and it's kind of like a tournament too." Sycamore started explaining more about the camp.

"Woah! A tournament? Count me in!" Alex was interested, feeling more pumped about it.

"That sounds like a lot of fun!" Melanie joined in, feeling as pumped as Alex was.

"Well yes, teams consist of three people per team, so you'd all fit in pretty easily! There's a lot of activities that the teams compete in for points, whoever has the most points by the end of the camp's week, is crowned the winner! The session time here is genuinely a week long, with a certain activity running on each day! The last day is just the celebration, so we can find out which team has the highest number of points! Based on your reaction Alex, I can tell you wanna be in it already, am I right?" He chuckled silently at the young man.

"Yes-sir! I don't mind putting my badges aside for the time being, it'll be a fun experience for all three of us anyways!" Alex exclaimed excitedly.

"Good, then I'll just register you as a team then! I'm sure you guys can find your own way to the cabin! You can just stay there for the rest of the week, but be sure to claim a cabin for yourselves that's already empty! We wouldn't want any trouble or anything to happen between the Trainers here. You'll be assigned as team, "The Explorers!" Are you three fine with that name?" The Professor asked them, just to make sure they were okay with it.

"Yeah!" All three of them replied back simultaneously.

They noticed him pulling out a clipboard of all kinds of paperwork on it from his lab coat. He was jotting down a few notes, officially registering them as a team together!

"Great, you're all set! Tomorrow will be the first event! So all you have to do is just meet by the large building at the center of the camp for breakfast, and then we'll get started! In the meantime, how about you guys get settled down and check out some of the other parts of the camp? Maybe you'll make more friends or so, and grow closer to your other fellow Trainers!" The Professor suggested, putting the clip board back into his lab coat.

"Okay Professor! We'll do just that!" Alex smiled back, still excited for the week ahead of him and his friends.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow in the morning then! Enjoy the rest of your evening here at camp!" Sycamore waved them off, walking up one of the staircases next to them.

"Well this sounds like it'll be a lot of fun!" James pointed out, admiring the look of the camp.

"Yeah, we're going to be the top by the end of the week! That's our goal! Explorers are number one!" Alex chanted out loud, pumping his fist into the air.

"Awesome! We're an official team together!" Melanie cheered along with him.

They looked around and noticed several other groups of Trainers smiling at them, they looked very friendly, so making friends would be really easy! The first thing that came to mind was claiming a cabin to sleep at though, so they headed up one of the staircases to their right, and eventually made it up to the large building at the center of the camp. It was pretty big, and it definitely looked like a good place to have meetings at, there were large glass windows on the sides of the building, which allowed you to see from the outside! Eventually though, they continued walking past the building, staying on the sidewalk. They passed underneath a balcony that stood from the building, and they noticed another smaller building with an orange colored cone head shaped roof on the top of it! Past that, there were a small handful of Trainers, all three of them were girls, but one in particular... Was staring directly at Melanie with a killer look on her face.

"What's her deal?" Melanie thought to herself, staring back.

The girl had light brownish hair just like hers, and she was wearing sky colored clothing. Her shirt had a Pikachu icon on it, and she was also wearing running sports shorts, which were colored blue as well. Her bag was purely white, and she also wore white colored glasses which were on her forehead, along with a white top fedora on her head. She also continued on giving Melanie the dirtiest look possible!

"Hello!" Alex greeted the girls, being friendly towards them.

The strange girl was the only one that stood out from her other two members, she started smiling widely back at Alex, and gave him the happiest look she could make!

"Hi there! Nice to meet you, you guys look new here!" She waved back to him.

"We sure are, Alex here is just having a hard time finding his way around the place as usual!" James teased him, elbowing Alex lightly.

"U-Um, no that's not true! I need a tour of the place anyways!" Alex shoved him away, feeling humiliated in front of the girl.

"Well, the names Jessica! Do you want a tour of the camp?" She offered, holding her hand out to him.

'S-Sure!" He blushed lightly, and took her hand gently.

She pulled him closer to her and she started walking off with him, leaving Melanie and James both confused. James noticed the blush just before he was grabbed in, and when he looked over to Melanie, she had a frown on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" He wondered, examining the expression on her face.

"He's, They're holding hands! We don't even hold hands! He just took it like that!?" She began freaking out, watching the two walking down the sidewalk together.

"Calm down, let's not think about this in the wrong direction... Look, let's just go on our own! We'll just tour it without him, and find the cabin later on once he's done with his tour!" James tried calming her down, hoping it would work.

She took a deep breath, and never felt this way before about him... Was it, jealousy? No, it couldn't have been... Melanie ignored it and followed James after he was leading on without her.

"Let's go claim our cabin, how does that sound?" He suggested, patting her on the back.

"Okay fine..." Melanie finally agreed with him, a smile formed on her face once again.

There was that smile! The smile that belonged on her face, James enjoyed seeing his friend happy! If she was happy, then he was happy, it was all good! They continued following down the pathway, and it eventually led to a big opening space! There were several other Trainers their age, and they looked like they were having very small Pokémon battles! They were just friendly battles, so it wasn't too serious. They saw the cabins just beyond the battlefields, on a bigger hill that was behind it. On the left side of the battlefield, there was a Pokémon Center too!

"Looks like Nurse Joy is here too!" James pointed out, looking at the Center while they were crossing the sidewalk.

"Yeah, I guess we don't have to worry about our Pokémon getting hurt!" Melanie giggled innocently, enjoying her time with James.

They weren't exactly lovers... They were just friends, good friends! James knew who she liked, and he was happy that she finally admitted it to him!

"Well, since we're almost there to the cabins, I'd figure since it's just us... We should probably plan on how you're going to get him to ask you out?" James started a conversation with her.

"I... I don't know how to deal with this stuff... I've never really had a boyfriend before... So I wouldn't know what to expect, but I-I do think he's, cute in a way..." She admitted it once again, blushing in embarrassment.

"Well... You could take a stroll by the beach, eat breakfast together, dinner maybe? I'll do whatever it takes to get you both together! How about tonight?" He gave her some ideas.

"I think that'll work, just as long as it's a start at least... But then again, that girl back there... She made me feel really uncomfortable. She gave me dirty looks!" She complained more about Jessica.

"She kinda reminds me of a fashionista... But yeah, I noticed that too. She looked pretty mad at you for some apparent reason." James put his hands behind his neck, walking casually like he always did.

They started walking up the many staircases that the camp had, as they were getting higher and higher up the hills.

"Exactly! My point! She just... I don't like how she's with him! They were holding hands!" She reminded him once again, freaking out.

"That's jealousy hon..." James chuckled quietly to himself.

"No! I'm not jealous because of that!" Melanie argued for herself, blushing yet again!

"Forget about it... Another thing I've noticed lately was Vulpix's behavior." James crossed his arms next, getting to the next part of their conversation.

"What? About her and Eevee?" Melanie asked, just to be sure he was referring to that.

"Yeah! Ever since she's met him, they've been spending a lot of time together..." James replied back to her question.

"I think they like each other!" Melanie giggled.

"As in like-like? You're probably right! We should help them get together as well!" He suggested another idea they could do.

"Maybe tonight, we can get them to go on a stroll at the beach! Just before sunset, we'll bring them to the shore, and then they'll spend a romantic time together!" She laughed back with him, thinking about their plans for the night ahead of them!

"Just leave that to me, I'll take them to the shore! It'll give you an opportunity to have a nice dinner with Alex, I still have some leftover soup from that other night... It's just enough for the two of you to eat." He agreed with her idea, suggesting another way to do it!

"What about you? What're you going to eat?" She asked him, feeling worried about him next.

"Don't worry about it! I can just find something on my own to cook and eat, trust me! The only thing you have to worry about is getting yourself ready for your 'Date!' tonight! Make yourself look all beautiful and stuff, you have make-up in your bag right?" He wondered.

"N-No!" She shook her head.

She wasn't expecting any of this to happen... She didn't bring up any makeup whatsoever... Just a brush and some other stuff that were used to keep her hair nice and straight.

"So you're telling me... You have no makeup at all?! Yet, you're a girl?" He gave her an odd stare.

"Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I would have that stuff all the time, I normally look good anyways... So I don't need any makeup! At least... That's what I think about myself personally..." She answered back confidently.

"Alright fine!" James gave up, eventually taking out a Pokéball from his bag.

"Whose in there?" Melanie wondered, curious to see who was in the Pokéball.

"You'll find out soon, take out Vulpix's Pokéball, and then once we get to the cabin, I'll show you!" James went ahead and ran up the rest of the stairs.

He left Melanie trailing behind, as he finally made it to the top! Once he reached the top of the staircase, there was a long neighborhood pathway of small cabins everywhere on the sides! They had several Trainers coming outside of them, and they all pretty much looked the exact same as one another too. Until one cabin caught his attention through the corner of his eye! It was empty, and nobody looked like they were in it! Quickly running to the empty cabin, he came across the doorway that led into the house-like building! The sign read,

"Available!"

"Yes! Here's the perfect one, and it's close to the stairs too! We'll be the early birds for tomorrow's first meeting!" James thought to himself.

He ran at the sign and quickly changed it from "Available!" To "Taken!" And then walked right into the cabin! Once he made it inside, it looked really cozy! There were two bunk beds on the left side of the room, a table with chairs to sit at were at the center, and on the right side of the room, there was a glass door that led outside to the cabin's balcony! At the front center of the room though, there was a safe fireplace which kept the room warm at night! He heard footsteps coming from the doorway, and knew exactly who it was too...

"You... Y-You suck! You know that right? You can't just leave me there, without telling me you're gonna run! You know how much I hate running..." Melanie was practically huffing and puffing, trying to catch her breath.

She opened a Pokéball that was in her hand, and released one of her Pokémon out onto the cabin's floor!

"Whoops... My bad! I just wanted to claim a cabin as soon as possible! Besides, we're close to the building in the center anyways, and this place is cozy! We got bunk beds!" James chuckled silently.

He watched the streaming beam of light forming into a certain Ice Type Pokémon! Vulpix came out, happily wagging her tail as she curiously wondered where they were at!

"Vwullll!" She yawned loudly, licking her paws as she opened her eyes adorably!

"Awwh! See what did I tell you, she's an adorable Pokémon! Those Aether fools are just heartless, trapping her in a cage..." Melanie sighed, but then she focused her mind back onto James.

He stayed silent about it, trying not to remind her of any Aether... He still had that same Pokéball in his freehand from earlier, and Melanie was confused a little bit about seeing it out.

"Well are you going to tell me who's in there? Or not?" She gave him an attitude, getting impatient about his secret.

"Alright! Alright! Jeez! Come on out!" James threw the capturing device into the air, and it opened soon after!

That same blue colored beam of light shot out of it as usual, and it started forming into a small Pokémon that was about the same size as Vulpix! It stopped forming, and the light faded away, revealing an Eevee!

"Ebwoii?" Eevee was wide awake, looking around in a sudden fear.

"It's alright Eevee! We're just at a camp for the rest of the week!" James whispered to the Eon Pokémon, trying to calm him down.

"Vull!" Vulpix greeted him happily, blushing lightly.

The pink color in her cheeks gave it away, and James noticed it right away!

"Eev!" Eevee turned his back to face Vulpix, and greeted her back the same way.

He too had a blush on his face, and they looked adorable together whenever they did that!

"You stole Eevee from Alex?" Melanie asked, giving him a dirty look.

"Sshh! DO you want to help them or not? I planned this out so that they could be together for the rest of the evening! They need their privacy, you know what I'm saying?" James whispered as quietly as he could directly into her ear.

"Ugh... Fine! But if he gets mad about this, then I'm blaming it on you! Got it?" She warned him.

"He's not going to get mad, he's busy on his little tour... Let's go spy on them shall we?" James suggested.

"I don't really feel comfortable doing that, Alex needs his privacy from us too!" She hesitated, not thinking about it anymore.

"Look, do you wanna go save your future boyfriend from a girl he might end up having a crush on in this camp, or would you rather sabotage, so that she won't talk to him anymore? Did you see how he blushed in front of her when he grabbed her hand? Those are signs that easily give it away! Now come, let's go! They'll be safe here by themselves, I'll leave Zorua here with them... He'll protect them with his life if something happens!" James backed himself up, trying to urge her to go with him.

"Okay sure..." Melanie finally agreed to do it, turning back to look down at the two Pokémon below her.

"Guys, James and I are just going to go for a little walk alright? How about you guys just explore for a bit? But don't get into any trouble, got it? Be back in this cabin by sunset..." She explained to them what her and James were going to do for the rest of the evening.

"Vull!" Vulpix nodded happily, scooting closer to Eevee.

"Bwee!" Eevee did the same thing, except his blush grew darker as he felt her chilly body against his!

"Good, we'll be back guys!" James waved bye to them.

Before he and Melanie left, he placed Zorua's Pokéball on one of the smaller tables at the bunk beds. Once he finished doing that, he walked outside with Melanie, and they left the two Pokémon alone to themselves.

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon OST - Serene Village Extended: watch?v=JyRfc58SYFA)**_

Now that it was just them, a lot of thoughts were racing through their minds. They haven't been outside of their Pokéballs for quite a while now, it felt like it's been ages!

"*Yaaaawn!*" Vulpix stretched the back of her legs while yawning innocently.

The warm felt good on her cold body, and she couldn't stop wagging her tail! They were in a new place to explore, and the best part was... She was alone with Eevee for once!

"Looks like they made it past that one cave!" Eevee pointed out, doing the same thing that she was doing.

"Yeah I know! It feels weird being in those balls, it's like taking a long nap!" She giggled cutely.

She eventually turned to face him, while looking around the cabin for something to do. Eevee on the other hand, couldn't help but take a few quick glances towards Zorua's Pokéball on the table. There were a lot of thoughts racing through his mind, and one in particular kept on repeating itself... He couldn't stop thinking about Vulpix, and how beautiful she looked right in front of his eyes.

"Apart from that... I actually, missed you... While being in my Pokéball." She mumbled nervously, rubbing her left paw with her other paw adorably.

That pink blush came into play, and Eevee immediately noticed it! Seeing her blush like that, made him blush in return! Without any words to repeat back, he was just left there... Silent and confused about what to say back! He felt very nervous in front of her, but that same adorable smile remained on her cute face. There was something about her that he truly adored! The swirls on her head looked exactly like puffy clouds, making her look twice as adorable. And the diamond sparkling icy blue color in her eyes added onto it as well!

"S-So... Gorgeous." He stuttered in his mind, with his heart pounding rapidly.

"Eevee, are you okay?" She tilted her head, worried for him.

He wasn't talking back at all, and that made her confused. She wasn't sure if she broke him, or if he was just ignoring her...

"Y-Yeah! Yeah I'm fine Vulpii! I just wanna explore the cabin for a while longer! You see, just to know more about our new house we're staying at!" He came up with a quick excuse, coming back to his senses.

It worked however, and she gave him a friendly grin shortly after he said that. She understood and nodded her head happily, walking off to the other side of the room.

"Phew! Okay Eevee, pull it together! Just... Why am I feeling like this? My heart won't stop pounding!" He started talking to himself, facing the other way from her.

The pounding in his heart didn't stop, and his stomach was filled of baby Beautifly! He didn't know what to say or think about this, he wasn't expecting to be alone with her like this!

"It's called having a crush!" A familiar voice popped up from underneath the bunk bed, startling him!

"Gwah! Whoa! H-Hey! What're you doing down there? I thought you were still in your Pokéball!" Eevee wondered, looking to his friend next, who was hiding under the bed.

It was Zorua, and he was doing a pretty good job blending himself with the darkness!

"I'm here to help you with your future girlfriend and mate. You wanted help right?" Zorua reminded him of their conversation back before Geosenge Town.

"Well yeah but!" Eevee began talking again, but he was dragged underneath the bed by Zorua's paws.

"W-Waa! Okay listen! I don't know how to deal with this! I don't even know the first ste-" Eevee panicked, and he was freaking out, but he quickly stopped talking once Zorua covered his mouth.

"Sshh! Calm down! That's why I'm here! It's normal to be nervous, don't worry about it! All you have to do is ask her out on a date! I'm sure this camp or whatever has a beach or something for you two at least! Just a simple, nice stroll out on the beach, just go swimming!" Zorua suggested, giving him ideas.

"How do I ask her out on a date?" Eevee asked, rubbing his chin gently.

"Well the first step is to make her laugh and stuff, girls will be more interested into the conversation! Then that's when you start leading up to it! You just ask her... But the key ingredient to the soup is that you need to have the confidence and courage in your heart to pursue with it, you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" Zorua kept on giving him the steps.

"So it's like... Basically asking someone to hangout with you?" Eevee wanted to be sure with his explanation.

"Yes! But there's just one thing... Expect her to be all huggy and stuff! And when it's the right time, BLAM! You go in for the kiss on her lips! That'll spark the relationship between you two! Right now, I'm sure she sees you as her best and closest friend, so you have a very high chance of her wanting to be your mate! But answer me this one question! And you better be quick..." Zorua finished, giving him a smirky stare.

"Why's that?" Eevee exclaimed, confused by his smirk.

"Eevee! Eevee are you there? Where'd you go?" Vulpix called his name out, searching all over the room for him.

"Is she truly the Pokémon you wanna spend your entire life with?" Zorua finally asked him the question.

Without hesitating to answer, Eevee knew his answer right away!

"Yes! She's the one!" He quickly answered back, giving Zorua his final answer.

He crawled away from Zorua, and went towards the other side of the bed.

"Eeveeee! Are you playing hide and seek with me?" Vulpix giggled.

"Her giggle is so..." Eevee thought to himself, daydreaming about her more!

"It's a riddle! You'll have to find me somewhere!" He eventually replied to her, playing a little game with her now!

"Ooo! A riddle huh? We'll go ahead, ask away!" Vulpix closed her eyes, looking up to the ceiling.

"Well... How many tails do you have right now?" He started the game.

"How can I see that? I can't even look behind myself! Vulpix complained.

"I'll give you an easy one then... What rhymes with tails?" He asked another riddle question.

"Um... Kale?" She tilted her head, hoping she was right.

"What the heck is that even?! It has something to do with-" Eevee continued on, but Vulpix cut him off!

"JAIL!" She screamed back.

"Wait! Let me finish! It has something to do with a path, or a-" He began talking, but she cut him off once again!

"Trail! Like a path kind of trail right?" She asked back, confident with her answer.

"Yes! That's the word! Now look underneath your paw!" Eevee gave her another question to solve.

Vulpix did what he instructed her to do, and looked underneath her icy blue colored paw, staring at the white spot on the bottom of it.

"What about my paw?" She was a little confused as to where this question was leading to.

"You know how the spot on the bottom of my paw is tannish colored? What's the color of the spot underneath yours?" Eevee continued on with the game.

"White?" She answered, putting her paw back down to the floor.

"How many spots do you have?" He asked even more questions.

"Four, I have four spots total on all of my feet." She mumbled softly.

"Alright, and the third word is bite! Put the three words together now!" Eevee laughed.

"Trail, four, bite? What is that even supposed to mean?" She was frustrated at this point...

"Trailing FOR A bite!" He helped her out with the riddled question.

"Trailing someone for a bite? Who am I trailing behind then?" Vulpix asked yet another question.

"ME!" Eevee announced happily.

He revealed himself from underneath the bed, and showed Vulpix his sharp teeth!

"W-Wait! I didn't sign up just so I could be bitten by-" She didn't have enough time to finish her sentence.

She was taken by surprise and he tackled her playfully. He was pretending to use the move "Bite!" On her.

"You were trailing me for a bite! So I guess you want a bite then?" Eevee laughed, pinning her down with his own weight.

"Nonono! No! I don't wanna get bitten!" She refused, trying to get him off of her playfully.

The next thing that he did, truly made the start of his evening. He rubbed his paw over her small belly, and it caused her to burst out in laughter as soon as his paw made contact!

"Aha! E-Eevee! Wait! I- Ahahaha!" She laughed like an adorable cute little maniac, and she couldn't help herself from restraining it either!

"Okay okay! I think you had enough!" Eevee chuckled at her reaction, eventually getting off of her.

He offered his paw to help her up from the tiled floor, and she grabbed it pretty quickly too! Once he pulled her up to her feet again, the two of them blushed lightly in front of one another, and their hearts were practically beating!

"So um..." Eevee started off a conversation with her.

"Yes?" She mumbled it back, and it sounded very adorable too.

The softness in her voice was cute, and it sounded like an angel was talking to him from above. His stomach had that same feeling as before, and his heart still kept pounding rapidly.

"I was wondering... If you'd um... If you'd like to, go out?" He felt the courage building up inside of his body.

He had a lot of second thoughts about her saying no, so it made him a lot scared. It was either now or never, and he needed to do this.

"You got this bud!" Zorua whispered from the bed behind him.

"Yes! I'd love to!" The blush grew darker on her side, and she walked up closer to Eevee.

"Awesome!" He thought to himself, allowing her to snuggle up to him.

She pulled him into a hug and squeezed him gently. He wrapped his paws around her next, and did the same thing!

"Do you want to um... Go walk on the beach together? I think there's a beach here." He offered.

"Yes!" She nodded happily and took his paw.

Once she did that, she led him over to the front door which was still open, and they walked outside together. Eevee on the other hand, was still nervous about this whole thing. He was happy that she said yes, but he didn't know what to do after that!

"I hope I don't mess this up..." He thought to himself, hoping for the best.

They were finally outside, and they looked around their surroundings. There were a lot of friendly Trainers too, and they didn't mind that they were outside walking together.

"Where's the beach?" Vulpix asked, looking everywhere.

"Um, oh! Right there! To the left of us, there's a staircase! Maybe if we keep on going down, then we'll eventually make it to the beach!" Eevee pointed out, staring at the staircase next.

"Okay!" Vulpix giggled, leading him on to the stairs.

They were still holding each other's paws, and they even passed by several other Pokémon and Trainers alike.

"Awh! Look at them! They look so cute together!" One girl couldn't help but call them out in the open.

Four other female Trainers around her noticed them too, along with their own Pokémon as well.

"Where'd you find such a cute mate?" A Buizel was walking beside Eevee, whispering into his ear.

"U-Uh!" Eevee stuttered, blushing in embarrassment.

"Where're you guys going?" A Noivern landed right in front of them, startling the couple!

"Wha?" Vulpix backed away from the Dragon Type, showing fear towards him.

"I do enjoy me some good dinner!" The Noivern laughed at them.

"Wait! No! Please, we don't-" Eevee stood beside Vulpix, letting go of her paw.

Both of them were shaking in fear, and the Noivern was towering over them!

"We were just going to the beach for our first date together!" Vulpix stood up for herself, taking a few steps closer to the Noivern.

"Awh, that's so sweet! Wait! Hm... Why're you guys shaking? Are you scared or something?" Noivern raised his voice, sounding angry.

"Noivern, cut it out! Can't you see you're scaring them?" Buizel stepped in, crossing his arms.

"I'm scaring them? They look delicious to eat!" Noivern argued back, showing his large vicious fangs at them.

"Well, now that you mention it, they do look soft and chewy, what if we split up, half and half? You get the Vulpix, and I get the Ee-" Buizel started explaining the plan, convinced that they were food.

"Wait we-" Eevee started to shake even more, with Vulpix doing the same thing.

"Wait we what?! And why do I get the Vulpix, she looks like an Ice Type! The Eevee here looks more delicious than her!" Noivern pointed back.

"We're not food! So back away from us right now or I'll-" Vulpix started speaking, but Buizel cut her off.

"You'll what? You two look really good to eat!"

"I'll freeze you both in a block of ice, that's what I'll do!" Vulpix threatened them.

Eevee looked around their surrounding, and didn't see any other Trainers nearby... It was just them, surrounded by two mean predators!

"THEY'RE MINE TO EAT!" Noivern yelled out loud.

He grabbed both Eevee and Vulpix with his feet, hanging onto them as tight as he could! He started flapping his wings as fast as lightning, and he took off to the skies above!

"WAIT! UUGH!" Vulpix screamed, trying to squirm out of his grasp.

She and Eevee were taken by surprise, and they couldn't move whatsoever! Vulpix tried using a move of her own, but she just couldn't do it! They watched as the ground was getting farther and farther below, and they were pretty high up!

"H-How do we get off of this thing!" Eevee couldn't move either, his body was frozen.

"HEY! LET US GO!" Vulpix screamed at Noivern.

He was just ignoring them, and he continued flying to who knows where...

"It's no use! He can't hear us!" Eevee sighed.

"So what do we do now?" Vulpix asked with a worried tone in her voice.

"Hold on! Well, maybe if he drops us, can you even float us down to safety?" Eevee wondered, trying to get her to think of a plan.

"I'm an Ice Pokémon, not a Flying! Just cause the swirls on my head are cloudy looking, doesn't mean I'm-" Vulpix argued with him,

"No not that! Do you know a move that we could use?" He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but they're not going to help us! Plus I can't move, so how am I supposed to use a move?!" She complained.

"We should've just stayed back in the cabin!" He shouted in fear, worried for their lives.

Pretty soon, Noivern started flying down to somewhere else, at a very fast speed! The wind was blowing across their faces, making them cover their eyes in return.

"I can't even! See!" Eevee yelled.

"Whaat?" Vulpix replied back, barely hearing his voice.

"I said, I CAN'T OPEN MY-WHOA!" Eevee shouted at her once again.

Noivern let go of them, and they were now free falling to the ground below! Their hearts were racing, and they were practically falling to their deaths!

"WAAH! EEVEE!" Vulpix screamed for her life.

They were pretty close to each other and they were in midair, and they still couldn't do anything to save themselves.

"WHOOPS!" Noivern shouted at the top of his lungs.

He flew underneath them and eventually caught them once again with his claws! Startling both of them half to death!

"YOU BIG JERK! DON'T DO THAT EVER AGAIN!" Vulpix shrieked at the Dragon Type.

"HOW ABOUT I JUST LET BOTH OF YOU GO THEN!" Noivern threatened to drop them.

"NONO! PLEASE DON'T!" Eevee pleaded.

"NO! IT'S ALREADY TOO LATE! YOUR GIRLFRIEND HERE CALLED ME A JERK!" Noivern continued screaming at the couple...

"G-Girlfriend..." Vulpix thought to herself, blushing, she felt embarrassed in front of Eevee.

He blushed as well, and refused to look at Vulpix... He was humiliated, and he didn't bother talking at all! Pretty soon, Noivern flew back down to the ground as fast as he could, scaring them again! Suddenly, he stopped flying... And he landed on the ground safely! Eevee and Vulpix reopened their eyes again to see what was going on, and they found themselves on the beach side of the camp!

"H-Huh?" Both of them asked the Dragon in confusion.

He let go of them, and flew back up again into the air, leaving them both alone.

"I thought you were going to eat us?" Eevee asked the larger Pokémon, watching him take off slightly.

"No, of course I wasn't! You think I'm THAT mean? Buizel and I were just messing around, you two enjoy your date now!" Noivern waved just before flying away quickly back to the camp.

"O-Okay?" Vulpix sat on the warm sand beneath them, watching Noivern flying away.

"W-Well... That was scary!" Eevee was shaking a bit, still frightened at what they just witnessed together.

"You said it... Anyways, I guess he wasn't really... Going to eat us!" Vulpix laughed slightly, with a sweat dropping behind her head.

She rubbed the back of her head, and blushed lightly before turning to Eevee next.

"So, now that we're here..." She started off the conversation, looking forward to their first date together!

"Just a walk!" Eevee smiled at her, proceeding to grab her paw.

He grasped it as gently as he could, and pulled her back up to his level. Once they were both paw in paw, they walked along the shore together, enjoying the sea breeze that blew across their bodies!

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (The Secret Side of the Aether Paradise - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=_YpHz4vZtxc)**_

"You think this is bad huh?" Faba mumbled, watching Lillie from outside of her cell.

"Don't even bother talking to me you maniac..." Lillie crossed her arms, laying down in her cell's bed.

"It's your fault you know, maybe if you hadn't have stolen them, then you would've been living up there with the other workers, enjoying your life, rather than wasting it in this cell of yours." Faba chuckled to her, shaking his head in return.

"You have no right to do this to me! When my mother finds out that you've been keeping me in a cell, then she's going to kill you for this!" Lillie gave a point.

"I am Faba, chief executive of the Aether Branch here, do you honestly think she'd listen to you after what you did? She sounded pretty upset when I told her that you were trying to take Cosmog from us, why'd you even come back anyway? Was it guilt, or was it simply stupidity?" Faba wondered, kneeling down at the cell's bars.

"I at least managed to get Vulpix out of this place, Melanie is probably long gone by now..." Lillie replied.

"Oh really? And what makes you think that?" Faba continued asking her more questions.

"Because otherwise, you'd have Vulpix right about now! I bet Mark won't even bring her back." Lillie giggled evilly.

"This is exactly why I hate you now! You've got an attitude on you little girl..." Faba laughed back, acting twice as evil as her laugh originally was.

"What're you gonna do huh? That's right, nothing!" Lillie raised her eyebrow at the man, still giving him an attitude of disrespect.

"You of all people would understand this... Disrespecting higher Aether ranks is offensive... And for that, I'll punish you for it!" Faba warned her.

"Yeah right, go ahead... You're just as crazy as my mother is..." She insulted him.

"You see, that right there just helps prove my point. You're a selfish rude brat, you know that? I will bring Cosmog here, and have you torture him for me... How's that sound?" Faba threatened.

"You wouldn't dare! I would never do such a thing to Nebby..." Lillie groaned, rolling her eyes in disbelief.

"Fine then, I'll just have to do it myself and have you watch the whole thing! I'll bring him up right now!" Faba chuckled, walking down the cell hall.

"NO! DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!" Lillie ran up to the bars and grabbed onto them with her hands, trying her best to shake them.

She started pounding on them violently, hoping to get him to turn around, but he didn't... He just continued on walking down the hall, and eventually reached the elevator, completely ignoring her words!

"No! Nebby..." Lillie sighed, dropping down to the floor on her knees.

Her heart was pounding, and she felt the need to faint in terror... This was going to be terrible... And she didn't want to see Nebby being tortured... Especially by Faba. Her only hope was that he would change his mind, and just leave her alone for the rest of the day.

 _ **Back to the date!**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon OST - Noe Town Extended: watch?v=zqDVIe6q4YY)**_

"Hehe! Eevee, s-stop it!" Vulpix kept on giggling innocently.

She was being chased by Eevee, and she was running from him as fast as she could. They were playing a little game of tag, and they were having a blast together! Their first date was already off to a good start, and the only thing that mattered the most was that they were having fun together!

"You're it!" He tackled her playfully, trying not to hurt her in any way.

"Gah!" She face planted into the sand, without knowing he would pounce on her from behind.

"WAH! Vulpix!?" He quickly got back up and got a closer look at her.

Her face was still in the sand, and he tried moving her body over.

"Vulpix? Are you okay?" He began freaking out.

She didn't respond back to him, she just remained there... Still in the sand!

"Oh no! What did I do? WHAT DO I EVEN DO?" His heart was pounding, and she wasn't moving or showing any signs whatsoever.

"VULPIX!" He shouted at her.

He knelt down closer to her, eventually lying down right beside her. He tried looking at her stomach to see if it was moving from her breathing, but nothing ever came... Then he put his paw on top of the fur on her back, and felt the cold chill on it soon after.

"You're still, cold? Did I cause you to faint or something? Come on Vulpix! Wake up!" He shook her body gently, trying to wake her back up again.

"Mmmr..." A muffled voice came from her, but her face was still in the sand!

"Huh?" He tilted his head, confused by what she was saying.

"I said mmm..." There it was again, and it sounded more clearer and better than before.

"What?" He asked once again, still not understanding her...

"PLEH! Ug... Ew!" She lifted her face off of the sand and spat it out of her mouth!

Eevee was startled by her sudden action, and his heart no longer pounded like it usually did. He ran by her side and helped her up from the sand, praying to Arceus that she was alright.

"A-Are you okay Vulpix?" He asked, putting his paw over her neck.

"Y-Yeah! *Ploof!* Ugh... That doesn't taste very good..." She spat out some more sand, eventually cleaning her tongue off with her own two paws.

"Good! For a second there, I thought I seriously hurt you... Or killed you even..." Eevee sighed in relief, feeling guilty about shoving her into the sand accidentally.

"You think I would've let this stuff kill me like that? I would've given you a proper goodbye if I died from it..." She blushed lightly, wrapping him into a tight hug shortly after finishing her sentence!

"O-Okay! Okay! Well at least you're okay! Heck... I've got an idea." Eevee laughed, pulling away from her hug eventually letting go.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" She giggled at him, grinning at him.

"Well, since it was my fault in the first place... *Yeeh*!" He made a sound with his voice after talking, sticking his tongue out.

He licked the sand with his own tongue, and scooped up a small portion of it so that it would be in his mouth. Once he put his tongue back in, his eyes widened in surprise! The sand was hot and dry, and it didn't have a good taste to it either... It was pretty bad, so he spat it out directly onto the beach again!

"You're an idiot..." Vulpix rolled her eyes, and she giggled even more at his stupid action.

"Ew! Okay fine... You're *Pliff!* You're right... That stuff does taste bad!" Eevee couldn't help but chuckle at his own action, noticing the smile on her face soon after.

"Now we're even!" She told him, walking closer to the water beside them.

The small waves were crashing on the sand, and the water gave out a cold, but nice temperature feeling to it. Eevee walked up closer to Vulpix and looked off towards the big blue ocean. The sun was just reaching it's point of setting, and nightfall would be upon them soon! Pretty soon, they just sat there, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere from the sound of the water! Eventually, the sky was turning orange by the seconds passing by, and the sun reflected off of the ocean's water, changing the color of it orange as well! It was a beautiful sight, and Vulpix's eyes were sparkling in delight! She loved the sunrise back in Brackish Town, so the chances of her seeing a sunset would be just as great!

"I-It's so... Beautiful! The sun on the water like that!" Vulpix admired the view, never taking her eyes off of it.

"Yeah, I know... But it's not that beautiful to be honest..." Eevee closed his eyes slightly, looking back to her.

"What do you mean it's not that beautiful? Are you crazy?" She gave him a bit of an attitude, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Well... I guess it IS pretty nice, but I honestly think you're more beautiful than it." He admitted it to her, feeling a blush forming on his cheeks.

He caused her to gasp in return, noticing a pink blush on her cheeks too! She scooted closer to him, until she was practically touching his body. Once she did that, she yawned quietly and then rested her head in the crook of his neck, enjoying the scarf of fur that was surrounding his neck! It made her feel safe, warm, and it also made it a comfortable place to rest at too!

"You're a sweetheart, you know that?" She giggled, resting her paw over his.

"I'm the one who's supposed to be telling you that... I think?" Eevee mumbled nervously, enjoying the affection she was giving him.

She wrapped her free paw around his body, and pulled him into a hug again. It was something that he actually enjoyed, and both of their hearts were racing! That's when Zorua's voice played inside Eevee's mind again!

"Expect her to be all huggy and stuff! And when it's the right time, BLAM! You go in for the kiss on her lips! That'll spark the relationship between you two! Right now, I'm sure she sees you as her best and closest friend, so you have a very high chance of her wanting to be your mate!"

"At the right time... A kiss on the lips huh? I don't even know the first thing to doing that!" He thought to himself, nervous about kissing her head on.

He felt a little weird about it, and it was a thing humans generally did, but hey! Who said Pokémon couldn't do it as well?

"You know what Braixen told me earlier today? Back in that one hotel's elevator?" He started a different topic for them to talk about.

"What did she tell you?" Vulpix whispered back.

"She told me that you and me missed out on the chocolate cake they had this morning back at breakfast... I have no idea what a cake is, but it sounds like a delicious food! Especially if it's chocolate!" He gave her a warming smile next.

"I hope it's good! Do you wanna go back to the cabin and eat it? I'm sure Melanie and James are back, and Alex... I don't know where he went off to." She suggested what they could do next.

"Sure! We should probably start heading back! Ladies first." He offered, allowing her to get up off of him.

"Oh my, what a gentleman." She joked around, slowly getting up.

Once she was off of him, he took her paw once again and led her back to the staircase. They started making their way back to the cabin, enjoying their time at the beach together!

 _ **Later on...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (The Secret Side of the Aether Paradise - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=_YpHz4vZtxc)**_

"Oh Lillie! I'm baaaack!" Faba announced, waking her up from her little nap.

He came back roughly an hour or so after he threatened to torture Cosmog. Lillie woke up instantly from her nap, and noticed Faba standing there outside of her cell, staring creepily at her from the other side.

"Gah! Don't scare me like that you creep! What do you want?!" She was still giving him an attitude, rolling her eyes to see that it was him that woke her up.

"What I want is to punish you for your rude behavior towards a higher ranked admin, now come with me... We're going to visit your little nebula looking friend!" He motioned her to stand up from her bed with his hand.

He took out the set of keys that he had, and proceeded to open the cell's door. Once there was a 'Clicking!' sound, the door opened right away, and he allowed her to freely move outside of the cell. She took a few steps closer to him, without having a choice... He grabbed her arm and then led her down the hall once again!

"LET GO OF ME! I CAN WALK MYSELF!" Lillie restrained, yanking her arm from his tight grip.

"Fine! Fine! We'll play it your way... But watch yourself! The more you talk and insult me, the more your precious little 'Nebby!' gets it... Understand me girl?" Faba threatened, shutting her up.

She closed her mouth and didn't wanna speak anymore to the crazy maniac, she was practically being forced into this, without any choice to say otherwise...

"Good... Finally some silence without all your yapping! We're going to the labs first thing, then we'll experiment on Nebby for a bit!" Faba laughed mischievously.

"No... This can't be happening! There has to be some way out of this!" Lillie thought to herself, with her heart pounding from wondering what Faba was going to do to Nebby.

 _ **Meanwhile, back to the camp!**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokémon Sun & Moon OST - Malie City (Night) Theme Extended: watch?v=PnsgU6LpDIk&t=170s)**_

"Zorua, you sure you haven't seen any of them at all? Did they leave to go somewhere else?" James asked his Dark Type, who was lying on one of the bunk beds.

"No... And yes, they're on a little date! Not that you'd understand my language anyway..." Zorua shook his head so that James could understand his answer.

"So, are they-" James began talking again, but someone interrupted him from behind!

He turned around and saw the two lovebirds, holding each other's paws. Melanie was the next to notice them too! She was sitting at the table, minding her own business.

"Awh! Look! They're holding paws!" She pointed out, finding them adorable together!

"Heh! Yeah, we're back!" Eevee chuckled nervously.

"Did you guys have fun together?" James asked them next, smiling at the two of them.

"We sure did!" Vulpix replied, snuggling her head against Eevee's.

They were both enjoying each other's company with one another, and they shared the same blush as well!

"Well that's great! Are you guys hungry at all? The Pokémon already ate earlier!" Melanie offered them.

James still had Pokémon pellets from the hotel, and he also had some leftover soup too.

"No! We're fine!" Both of them spoke back at the exact same time, causing a short laugh out of each other!

They shook their heads in response, so that she could understand them.

"Alright fine, you two just enjoy whatever it is that you're doing then!" Melanie continued on talking, giving them both a friendly smile.

Eevee and Vulpix nodded their heads, and proceeded to walk their way over to Zorua. Zorua returned the action back, jumping off of the bed to greet them.

"You two look like you had fun, what'd you even do anyway?" He wondered, curious about their little date.

"We were just playing tag on the beach, stuff like that! We tried tasting sand, we watched the sunset, and we're not even done yet!" Eevee giggled silently.

"Nope! We still got plans for tonight." Vulpix hugged Eevee's neck with her paw.

"More plans huh? What kind of plans?" Zorua was interested into what they were planning on doing later on.

"We're going to go out on the balcony to watch the stars, it'll be a first time experience for the two of us together! So it'll be fun!" Eevee explained.

"Sounds like a lot of fun... You two enjoy it then. *Yawn!*" Zorua yawned quietly, getting back to his comfortable spot on the bed.

Eevee and Vulpix continued to snuggle with each other, leaving Melanie and James to themselves.

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

"So, how're we going to do this again?" Melanie asked about the plan.

"He'll have to come in here eventually, he can see us from the window! His tour is probably done right about now! I already heated up both of your bowls..." He responded.

He walked over to the fireplace, and picked up two medium sized bowls of soup in them, then he finally approached Melanie carefully. Without spilling the soup once, he managed to bring it to the table easily!

"This should be kind of romantic! Just joke around, play with your hair, just act pretty! It's not that bad, considering the guy does everything! All you have to do is just smile and make him blush, if you see that he's blushing a lot, then chances are... He has a crush on you, and he likes you a lot!" James continued giving her advice.

"How is that going to work?" She asked another question.

"The girl just acts pretty and attractive, and just wait until you see! He'll fall for you right away!" James answered confidently.

"But I don't even kno-" Melanie began talking back to him, but she was cutoff by a loud voice at the front door!

"Hey guys! I finally found you all!" Alex finally arrived at the cabin.

He was admiring the look around their cabin, and he didn't mind it at all! He saw Melanie and James by the table, as well as Eevee and Vulpix hugging each other constantly!

"Hey wait a sec! Why is Eevee..." He started mumbling softly.

"He wanted to hangout with Vulpix, so I had no choice but to burrow his Pokéball for a bit! In the meantime, I prepared dinner for you! How was your tour by the way?" James quickly moved on with the topic of their conversation, trying to distract him from it.

"It was really good! There's a lot of interesting things in this camp, and the other teams are pretty competitive, but they're friendly... You know?" Alex replied.

"Yeah! That's good, we'll win our first challenge tomorrow for sure! In the meantime, I'm gonna take a nice long stroll through the camp, maybe I'll make new friends." James hoped for the best, giving Melanie a quick wink.

"Well thank you for the soup, it was really good when I first tried it! Hopefully it tastes even better!" Alex smiled, walking over to the table.

"Oh! It'll be good, trust me! I'd be shocked if it weren't... Plus I'd probably kill you if you thought it tasted bad, so either way... You're done regardless of the outcome!

"Well you have fun out there! That Jessica girl is really nice though! She gave me a cool looking friendship bracelet! She's the one who gave me the tour of the camp! You guys have got to meet her tomorrow when we're in our first competition together." Alex laughed, taking a seat across from Melanie.

Hearing the term "Friendship bracelet!" Was enough to almost break Melanie's heart!

"We... We don't even have a bracelet... And we've known each other longer!" Melanie thought to herself.

"A bracelet? Something special?" James tilted his head in confusion.

"Well, just friends you know? She was nice enough to offer me a tour of the campus! Now I'm done talking! I wanna eat already!" He complained back, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Oh yeah! That's right, yeah! Go enjoy the soup! I'm going to go take a walk!" James waved both of them off, heading outside of the cabin.

He left the two alone, and they were having their little dinner together. Melanie didn't say a word to him, and he didn't say a word back either. It was a very awkward silence between the two of them, and it didn't feel right whatsoever. That's when Zorua eventually fell asleep almost instantly! And then, Vulpix and Eevee walked over to the balcony door, pushing it open so that they could get outside onto it.

"Where're they going?" Alex asked, finally being the first to say something!

"They're probably just going to watch the stars or something, they've been hanging out with each other all evening long!" Melanie answered his question, hoping she fully answered it.

"So how was your tour?" Melanie asked, changing the topic.

"It was good, learned a lot about the camp... That's for sure! How's your shoulder? Are you feeling any better?" Alex asked, staring at the bandaged shirt around her wound.

"Haven't checked it yet, it's probably healed up. It doesn't hurt anymore, but I'll... I'll survive!" She giggled slightly.

She tucked back a strand of hair behind her ear, and was hoping that he would notice it. He eventually did, and she saw a small blush forming on his face!

"There it is!" Melanie thought to herself, grinning at the look of it.

"Well... I never got to tell you about the mirrored world I was in! It was really different." He continued on, his blush was starting to go away.

"Yes! Tell me, please!" Melanie was excited to hear his side of the story, taking a spoonful of her soup.

"As soon as I got pulled through that mirror, everything was black! I couldn't see anything at all, but the mirrored world was very different from our own. It was a whole new dimension!" He started off the story, sounding very excited to tell her.

"Hm! That excitement in his personality is what I love about him." Melanie blushed harder, listening widely.

While he was telling the story, through the corner of her eye, she saw Eevee looking through Alex's bag. Then after he searched in it for a while longer, he took out a lunch box, and started dragging it across the floor with his teeth.

"He must be going for that chocolate cake we saved for him." Melanie giggled at what he was doing.

He went back outside again, and left the two alone.

"Anyways! There were clones of ourselves. I met myself, and I met yours too..." He stopped himself after mentioning her clone.

"I had a mirrored self too? Like a clone almost?" She wondered next, filled with curiosity.

"Y-Yeah..." That blush came into play again once he replied back to her.

"What was I like?" Melanie jumped to conclusions, very interested in his story.

"She was... Well." He couldn't find the words to describe her.

She was different than the Melanie he knew, she was rude, and she was mean, but she gradually changed as they progressed through the cave together.

"She was, amazing... And r-really beautiful, just like you." He sheepishly admitted it to her, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"G-Gah! He, he!" She couldn't contain her excitement, her heart was pounding rapidly.

"And the Pokémon could also talk as well." He quickly changed the subject, thinking he made a mistake about calling her beautiful.

"They did?!" She scooted closer to him, finishing her soup pretty quickly.

"Y-Yeah! You should've seen Eevee and Vulpix, they were actually mates with each other." He kept on telling her the details.

"I know that... They're probably out there smooching it out." She chuckled quietly, making sure that her voice wasn't too loud.

"I never thought that they'd be together..." He leaned back, finally finishing his soup.

"Yeah, who would've guessed it huh?" Melanie tried her best to look cute in front of him.

Tucking back strands of her hair behind her ear wouldn't be enough... She had to come up with a different way, but what could she do? Her heart was pounding rapidly, and she started feeling a small headache.

"You okay?" Alex asked her, noticing the look on her face.

She felt sick, and was hot too... Something didn't feel right, she got up from the table, and started making her way outside of the cabin through the front door.

"Melanie!" Alex shouted, getting up from the table.

"I'm fine! Just need, a little walk..." She replied, heading out of the cabin.

He was left there, confused about the entire scene. He only hoped that she was going to be alright. Once she was outside of the cabin, she looked around their neighborhood. Nobody was around, and it was silent and peaceful, until someone called her voice quietly,

"Psst! Melanie!"

"Huh? James?" Melanie turned to her left, and saw him sitting in the shadows.

She joined him and sat down next to him, feeling nervous about the dinner with Alex.

"What's wrong? Did everything go alright with you and Alex?" James wondered why the was outside.

"No... Well yes, but I'm just... I'm feeling sick to my stomach, he called me beautiful... And my heart was just pounding at that very moment! That's when I started feeling weird." She told him everything, hoping he would comfort her.

"Are you lovesick? It's normal to be that way... Or are you just really nervous?" James asked.

"No it's just... I get so nervous around him, I feel as if he doesn't even like-" She freaked out, but James cut her off.

"Relax! Let me handle everything, I'll get him to ask you out on a date, you just sit there and act pretty! You understand me? Just be yourself, if he called you beautiful... Then that's an obvious sign that he likes you! Just relax!" He quickly calmed her down, standing back up.

He walked back into the cabin, and proceeded to talk to Alex.

"Alex!" James shouted.

He took more steps towards him, and he was lying on one of the beds.

"You're back from your walk?" Alex exclaimed, sounding depressed.

"What's wrong? You sound a little upset..." James noticed it right away.

"Nothing... I don't wanna talk about it." Alex closed his eyes, getting a pillow to cover his face with it.

"Alright, something's definitely wrong! Tell me! Does it have something to do with you and Melanie" James tried getting it out of him.

"Yes! Now leave me alone, alright?" Alex mumbled into the pillow.

"Talk to me buddy, I'm here for you..." James sighed from his reaction.

"I scared her off, I called her beautiful! I probably made her sick! She's never gonna wanna talk to me ever again." Alex freaked out.

"Sshh! Calm down, it's not the end of the world! Don't get the wrong idea or anything you hear me? Look, I can help you with her..." James started offering help to him.

"I don't know... She wouldn't feel the same way..." Alex replied in disbelief.

"You don't know that until you try... Ask her out on a date or something, that dinner between you two seemed pretty romantic to me... And yes, I was watching the whole time." James rolled his eyes, annoyed by his friend's behavior.

"You were watching?" Alex shouted back.

"Yes, but I didn't hear what you guys were talking out... I only watched the beginning... Until I saw her running out." James admitted.

"Well how will I know if she'll say yes or not?" He asked.

"Like I said... I'll help you with her, I don't know if she'll have feelings for you... But it's worth a try right? Just go for it!" James tried urging him.

He obviously knew they both had crushes on each other, but there was the problem of getting them to admit it to each other.

"Are you sure you're going to help me?" Alex asked once again.

"Yeah, of course I will dude. I'll try my best..." James sighed.

"Thanks! Where do we start?" Alex continued asking him all of these questions... He was starting to get annoyed.

"We'll start tomorrow... We should get some rest for the competitions ahead of us, am I right?" James tried changing the subject.

"Yeah... We probably should. You got a good point, is she going to be okay out there though?" Alex asked yet another question...

"Oh my Arceus... YES! She'll be fine!" James yelled angrily.

He walked back outside of the cabin, leaving Alex alone to himself. The only thing that mattered to him now was checking up on Melanie to see if she was feeling any better.

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

 _ **Translation: (Pok** **é** **-Language!)**_

"Mmm! This is SO GOOD! What is this stuff called again?" Vulpix screamed in joy, taking a bite out of her slice of the chocolate cake.

"I think it's called cake? It's a funny name!" Eevee laughed with her, taking the next bite.

They were sharing slices together, and they never stopped eating the desert until their bellies were fully satisfied!

"I can't believe we almost missed the chance to eat this stuff back in the hotel! *Gah!*" Vulpix gasped slightly when she felt Eevee's paw on her muzzle.

"S-Sorry! I was just cleaning off a piece of chocolate on your nose!" Eevee rubbed the back of his head, feeling nervous about what he just did.

"O-Oh! It's fine!" Vulpix admitted, scooting closer to snuggle with him.

They never stopped hugging each other, and they eventually finished the cake. Eevee pushed the box away with his own feet, and only focused on being with her!

"So, how did you like our first date together?" Eevee felt like this was the right time to ask her.

"It was... Amazing..." She mumbled back, blushing with him.

"Good! I'm glad you thought it was amazing! I've never seen the night sky before, but it's just as beautiful as you are." He flirted with her, blushing hard.

She looked up to the night skies above them, and saw the millions and millions of stars in outer space!

"They're so, pretty!" Vulpix admitted, as the starlight was reflecting off from her eyes.

"Yeah! They really are! Hey look!" Eevee pointed up to one of the stars.

It was a constellation, and it looked like Pikachu's head! Vulpix noticed it too and found it amazing to look at! It was a picture in the sky, and they never expected to see a picture of a Pokémon up there either! Then, a beautiful blue colored comet flew over the picture, brightening up the sky a little bit! But only then... It didn't look like a comet anymore... It was a meteor! It was heading directly down in front of them, towards the beach! It was pretty bright, and it was silent too!

"Woah!" Both of them gasped in amazement.

All of a sudden, the meteor landed into the sand at the beach, and it shocked both of them to death! They witnessed a meteor crash in front of them, and it looked pretty weird too! It had a flaming blue color on it, and Eevee got up immediately from the floor.

"Hey! We should go check it out!" He suggested, sounding serious.

"We won't be gone for too long right? We wouldn't want them to worry about us disappearing!" Vulpix asked, worried about the meteor.

"No! We won't be gone for too long, but if any Pokémon out there are injured from the blast, we have to go over there and make sure they're okay!" Eevee exclaimed, grabbing her paw to lift her up.

"Right! You're right! We should go!" Vulpix finally agreed with him, nodding her head at the same time.

They jumped from the balcony and landed onto the soft grassy ground below it carefully. They then proceeded running back to the beach, hoping the meteor didn't hurt anything!

 _ **But this meteor wasn't an average one...**_

 _ **There was something special about it...**_

 _ **Something special that it contained inside...**_

 _ **There was something...**_

 _ **Something inside of the meteor, a living creature...**_


	16. Ch 16, Mysteries Unfolded!

_**Ch. 16, Mysteries Unfolded!**_

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokémon Sun & Moon OST - Malie City (Night) Theme Extended: watch?v=PnsgU6LpDIk&t=145s)**_

"Here it is!" Eevee pointed out, finally reaching the meteoric chunk of rock.

"It doesn't look like anyone got hurt here, unless we're the only ones that saw it." Vulpix finally caught up to him, examining the rock.

Eevee took a closer step towards the meteor, until he was touching it with one of his paws. He eventually climbed onto it, and reached the very top!

"Becareful!" Vulpix whispered, worried for him.

"Relax... Like you told me earlier, I would do the same back to you." Eevee chuckled nervously.

"What's that?" Vulpix showed him that adorable smile of hers.

"I wouldn't leave you without a proper goodbye..." Eevee blushed lightly.

"Just don't hurt yourself... I would hate to carry you back to the Cabin if something were to happen to you." Vulpix rolled her eyes, shaking her tail playfully.

"This is nothing but a glowing purple rock!" Eevee stomped his foot on the meteor as hard as he could.

The blue color eventually turned purple, signifying that the meteor had already cooled down!

"At least we got to see the beauty from it as it was falling." Vulpix tried to change the mood of things.

"Well, it came from up above! There's gotta be something cool about it! What if we try cracking it open? It sounds... Hollow!" Eevee stomped his foot once again, hearing the hollowed sound from the inside!

"You're right! It's empty inside!" She heard the noise as well.

"Let's try opening it! What if we find something special, like treasure!" Eevee suggested.

"Go ahead, but like I said... Don't hurt yourself!" She warned him once again.

He jumped straight up from the rock, and used the move Swift onto the meteor! Once he did that, there was a crack in the rock!

"Yes! It's working!" Eevee noticed the crack.

"That was a great first attack! One more and maybe it'll open!" Vulpix complimented him, blushing lightly.

She caused a blush to smile on his face, as well as a confident looking smirk too! She watched him doing the same move over and over again, until there was a large 'CRACKING!' Sound coming from the meteor!

"Yes! It's opening!" Eevee jumped off of the meteor, but he face planted onto the sand...

"*Gasp!* Eevee! Are you okay?" Vulpix ran by his side so that she could help him back up.

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine!" Eevee replied back getting up again.

The meteor eventually cracked wide open! Splitting into a million pieces, which startled both of them almost instantly!

"W-Woah!" Vulpix gasped yet again in amazement.

Inside of the meteor, there were glowing purple crystals on the sides of the debris, and at the center... Laid a crystal-like looking egg!

"Huh?!" Eevee tilted his head once he noticed the egg in the center.

He took a few steps towards the egg, along with Vulpix as well. They weren't sure what the egg was, or what it did, but it sure was a beautiful looking object! The crystals were reflective, and it looked pretty too!

"What is this thing anyway?" Eevee wondered, proceeding to touch the egg with his paw.

"Don't touch it! You don't know what it even is! What if it's a trap?" Vulpix warned him, stopping his movements quickly!

"Well it does look like an egg almost, but if it is... Then I wonder what kind of Pokémon is inside!" Eevee thought about the egg for a while longer.

"Maybe, but still don't touch it! What if it lays a bad curse on you or something?" Vulpix warned him yet again.

"Curse? There's no such thing as curses! You're just being silly!" Eevee replied.

"You're not touching that egg... If it came from the sky, then it has to be significant in some way." She continued on, walking ahead of him.

"Why not? What'll make you agree to me touching it? Do you want a hug?" He asked, wagging his tail happily.

"Well... Hugs are, always nice I guess..." Vulpix blushed, thinking that would be nice.

She stared at him, noticing his happy smile!

"He's so... C-Cute when he smiles like that." She thought to herself, making her blush extremely noticeable.

She suddenly snapped out of her romantic mind, and came back to reality!

"Wait! No!" She shook her head at him, as he was moving closer to hug her.

His ears dropped, and he started frowning, looking disappointed... She knew why he was upset, and she too felt bad for him. He just wanted to hug her for the fun of it, after all... It was their first date together, so it wouldn't hurt right?

"You know another reason why you shouldn't touch that mysterious egg?" Vulpix asked, blushing hard.

"What's that huh? Why shouldn't I touch it?" He mumbled back, tilting his head slightly.

"It's cause I l-love you, and I don't want anything happening to you! Why do you think I went crazy mad at Faba and Mark back at that hotel?" She mumbled back, blushing and feeling embarrassed to admit that to him.

"You mean, you did all of that? Just for m-me?" He asked back, blushing the same way.

"Y-Yeah... I thought you knew that by now? But I guess not..." She looked down to the sand, feeling humiliated after telling him that she had feelings for him.

"Well..." He started rubbing the back of his head, taking a few steps closer to her.

"Mm..." She closed her eyes, having the feeling as if he was judging her.

"I... I love you too!" He gave her a warm welcoming smile, giving her a quick peck on the cheek!

"Ga!" She opened her eyes suddenly, blushing very hard!

Her face was as red as a tomato! And she didn't expect a kiss from him!

"What's wrong? Did I break you? Heh heh." He giggled nervously.

"Come here you!" She pulled him into a tight hug, showing him as much love as she could.

She returned the gesture by kissing him back, on the cheek... But it was enough to make his face red hot too!

"S-So beautiful!" Eevee couldn't help himself, hugging her back.

They continued embracing one another, until they finally separated. Only then, when they did break apart, they made sure that their bodies didn't... Instead, they held each other's paws! Now that they admitted that they loved each other, it brought a step forward into their new and beginning relationship!

"So, what should we do next?" He suggested.

"You know what... Lets try and hatch this egg!" Vulpix offered, stepping closer to the egg.

She extended her other paw out towards it, and proceeded to touch the egg! As soon as her paw was about to make contact with it, the egg suddenly started glowing brightly!

"SHHHHIIIIIIIINNG!" There was a high metallic screeching sound coming from the egg!

The egg eventually floated into the air, until it was several feet above them!

"W-What's happening!?" Vulpix felt scared, shaking in fear.

"I don't know! Just stay behind me!" Eevee told her, going ahead of her and guarding her from the egg.

They didn't know what would come next, but the egg continued shining! The brightness coming from the egg was blinding, forcing them to take their eyes away from it! Eventually though, the egg started changing it's shape, and it was already hatching! It was forming into a small Pokémon, roughly their size! All of a sudden, the brightness from the egg dimmed down slightly, and it exploded!

"Look out!" Eevee shouted, pushing her out of the way.

There was a bit of debris coming from the egg, and they were pretty sharp crystalline rocks too! He made sure that they didn't get hit from the shards, so he continued to back away with her still beside him. Once the light wore off, they were able to look back to the Pokémon, and what they saw... Shocked them! The Pokémon was adorable looking, and it looked like it was sleeping like a baby almost!

"Woah! What is that Pokémon?" Eevee wondered, examining it.

"I don't know, but it sure is small!" Vulpix pointed out.

"It's kind of like our size almost." Eevee agreed with her, still looking at the mythical creature.

The Pokémon was mostly yellow, and it had a star-shaped head! It had a cocoon shaped body, and it slowly floated down to the floor. After a few seconds or so, the cocoon broke open, and it revealed it's entire body next! It was a small, white colored humanoid looking Pokémon. It had short stubby legs, but it also had longer arms too! There were little ribbon-like flaps on the undersides of it's arms, which resembled long sleeves. And on the Pokémon's small belly, there was a crescent shaped looking symbol, which looked very similar to a closed eye! Additionally, the creature had circular eyes on it's face, with small, blue colored triangle shaped markings underneath the eyes as well! On it's star shaped head, there were three blue ribbons that were hanging out, and on the back of it's neck, there were also a pair of yellow colored ribbons too, which resembled comet-like tails!

"*Yawwwn!*" The Pokémon mumbled with it's soft and innocent sounding voice.

It eventually hit the ground very gently, and it was slowly waking up!

"O-Ooo..." It continued to mumble, trying to open it's eyes.

The Pokémon hovered up again slightly, but when it did that, there was a sudden crack in it's back!

"OOHH! Ah... Hrmm..." It fell back to the ground slowly, stretching it's arms in the process.

Once it finally reached the ground again, it opened it's eyes slightly! The color of the Pokémon's eyes were black, and it looked pretty majestic too!

"H-Huh..." The Pokémon mumbled, rubbing one of it's eyes with it's own hand.

It sounded like a boy, so there was a pretty good chance that it's gender was male!

"Are you okay?" Eevee asked him, taking a few steps closer to the small Pokémon.

"N-Hrm... Still asleep *yawn!*" The Pokémon definitely sounded like he was tired.

"Still asleep?" Vulpix wondered, clearly noticing the Pokémon's long yawn.

"Y-Yes..." The Pokémon replied, still rubbing one of his eyes.

"You came from the sky! A blue meteor almost! What kind of Pokémon are you?" Eevee wondered in curiosity, wanting to know more about the creature.

"J-J-Jir *yawwwn!*" He was about to state his name, but the yawn kicked in once more, interrupting him!

"What was that?" Vulpix asked innocently, trying to be kind to the Pokémon.

"Jirachi, I'm... J-Jira *yawn!*" Jirachi finally gave out his name, yawning once again...

He was going to give them the disease of yawning if this kept up... He looked half dead, tired completely!

"Are you sure you're okay?" Eevee asked the legendary, wanting to be sure.

"I'm a legendary Pokémon! Of course I'm okay! Just tired..." He complained, crossing his arms back.

"Okay okay I'm sorry!" Eevee apologized, trying not to be rude.

But when he said the word "legendary!" It froze Eevee's heart!

"Wait, you're a..." He started stuttering nervously.

"That's right... A legendary Pokémon, I'm Jirachi! And I've been asleep for about a hundred years! I finally woke up from my nap!" Jirachi continued talking, he was starting to wake up now!

"A legendary Pokémon! Wow!" Vulpix gasped in amazement.

She made Jirachi giggle innocently, and he acted like a baby Pokémon as well.

"Wait a sec! Did you say a hundred years of sleeping?!" Eevee asked in shock.

"Mhm, you got it! *yawn!* UGH! I need to stop yawning so much!" Jirachi complained, sounding like a brat.

He noticed both of them holding each other's paws, and couldn't help but also notice the happy smiles on their faces either.

"You two are... Mates? Right?" He teased them, noticing the huge blushes on their face as soon as he said that one word.

"N-No! At least... Not yet..." Eevee mumbled, embarrassed in front of her.

"Someday... Maybe... Vulpix replied back to the legendary, trying to move on from the subject so that it wouldn't be so awkward.

It was a word that was very serious, one that made both of them humiliated in front of one another.

"Well, you two look like lovers then, am I right?" Jirachi continued giggling.

"Yeah! You got it!" Eevee chuckles nervously.

"Yeah! He's my b-boyfriend!" Vulpix nuzzled her head against his, grinning joyfully.

"Heh, what she said!" Eevee nuzzled her back, smiling just as happily as she was!

"That's great! Hopefully you treat her well... Anyways, I need to go... It's been very nice, but I have work to do right away..." Jirachi crossed his arms, looking up to the stars above.

"You're already leaving? What kind of work do you even have?" Vulpix wondered, staring blankly at the mythical legend.

"Important stuff... I'm not allowed to tell anyone, or else my creator/lord will be furious with me... And I can't risk losing my ability to grant wishes." Jirachi answered her question quickly, sounding serious in a way.

"You can grant wishes?!" Eevee immediately jumped to conclusions, gazing at him in amazement.

"Of course I can! I have a star shaped head for crying out loud... Not to mention this either..." Jirachi replied back, giving him a cool looking smirk.

The closed eye on his belly opened up, just enough to show them what it looked like! It was a magical looking eye, and it was known as his "True Eye!"

"Whoa! Three eyes!" Both of the two lovebirds kept on pointing out the obvious, blown away from the way Jirachi looked.

"I only have two eyes... This is just the eye that I can use to extract power from that comet up there!" Jirachi looked up to the stars again, closing the eye on his belly.

Eevee and Vulpix looked up to where he was looking at, and they noticed a bright and beautiful majestic blue comet in the sky! They had no words from the beauty of it, it was truly a magnificent thing to stare at!

"I'll tell you what, maybe I'll visit you two every night or so... At this one spot! I'll have enough power to grant you two a wish by the time the week is done with... I'm only awake for seven days, then I have to go to sleep again for the next century or so..." Jirachi offered, smiling happily.

"That sounds really nice! But do you really have to sleep for a century long?" Vulpix raised her eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, we couldn't even sleep for that long... How come YOU can do it? But not us!" Eevee continued asking the legendary all of these questions.

"Look, I'd hate to leave you two in such a hurry... But I really need to go! I need to get back to my home... The Hall of Origins... All of us legendaries have to go there for our annual meeting..." Jirachi rubbed his eyes, feeling bad that he had to leave them so soon.

"But we just met you!" Vulpix sounded disappointed.

"I know... But I'll visit you two every night, whenever the comet is out! Only Pokémon can see it for some reason... So please don't bring any humans or tell anyone about this, okay?" Jirachi asked them to keep a promise, trying to keep his identity a secret from everyone else at the camp.

"We promise." Both of them nodded, still wagging their tails with one another.

"Good... I'll have the time tomorrow though to answer all of your questions! Maybe I'll show you two a secret place, if I'm allowed to! I'm good friends with someone who can take you two there instantly!" Jirachi exclaimed, getting ready to fly away at the speed of light!

"Hoopa?" Eevee tried guessing who the Pokémon was, remembering when he helped Melanie escape from the Aether.

"I think that was his name right?" Vulpix agreed with him, rubbing her chin slightly.

"Huh? You two actually know Hoopa? I'm not surprised... He causes way too much trouble." Jirachi sighed.

Another one of his long yawns came into play once again, and he was about to fly off any second now.

"I have to go... Sorry for cutting it short! I'll be back, tomorrow night!" Jirachi quickly spoke out, not giving them any chance to speak back to him.

He immediately flew away into the sky, at the speed of light too! He left a starry trail behind him, and it looked like glitter almost. It was beautiful to look at, and he was no longer in sight, as the trail started fading away by the second.

"Wow... Did you see that?" Eevee whispered into her ear, still looking up to the sky.

The comet disappeared from the sky as well, leaving the entire camp darker than it already was... The only light that was shining upon the camp was the moonlight!

"Yeah, I saw it!" Vulpix nodded back, smiling at him next.

She squeezed his paw to get his attention back again, and he looked at her.

"So..." He started off, getting closer to her.

"So...?" She raised her eyebrow, grinning widely.

"We should probably get back to our cabin..." Eevee suggested.

"Yeah! Let's go!" She continued holding his paw, walking along with him.

They started leaving the beach, and they headed back to the staircase, hoping that their Trainers weren't worried about them being gone for a while.

 _ **Moving on...**_

"Please don't!" Lillie begged, getting down to her knees.

"Nothing you say or do is going to stop me, understand?" Faba exclaimed, holding Cosmog in his arms.

"You can't do this to him! You're a monster, you know that?!" Lillie screamed, with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Awh, is baby Lillie crying?" Faba laughed evilly.

Cosmog was shaking in his arms, he was definitely showing fear towards the wicked chief.

"You'll see Lusamine! Your cute little precious sweet Cosmog here will finally be healthy and strong enough for you to summon the beasts! Bring them upon this world... And show them all of your love... These kids just don't understand our purpose for the region of Alola, nor Kalos... I'll bring Vulpix back, and maybe I'll even surprise you too with the Eevee and Zorua!

"Nebby!" Lillie extended her arm out through one of the bars, trying to grab Cosmog out of Faba's arms.

"Nebby? Why do you keep calling him Nebby? His name is Cosmog! Not Nebby!" Faba shouted angrily, taking out a syringe needle out of his pocket.

The syringe had a green colored fluid in it, and it looked pretty dangerous too!

"Don't put that stuff inside of him! There's no telling what it could do!" Lillie warned, giving Faba a terrifying expression on her face.

"I'm not putting anything dangerous into him, this fluid is simply just a chemical that'll increase his strength! Think of it like a permanent adrenaline shot, except it'll really hurt! I wanted to give one to Vulpix, but she wasn't even ready yet, considering her age!" Faba explained what it did, taking the cap off of the needle.

"DON'T! THAT STUFF WILL HURT HIM!" Lillie continued screaming, banging on the bars to get out.

"You can try, and try, and try... But I already told you! You brought this upon yourself! Thinking I'm the evil one? Your assistant and her friends are the evil ones, taking Vulpix away from her home?! That's kidnapping! And you tried taking Cosmog too! You honestly think I can easily forgive you for something so stupid? NO! Cosmog here is going to get it, regardless of what you do, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Faba laughed evilly.

Being the small Pokémon that he was, Cosmog couldn't do anything... He couldn't even try getting away from Faba if he had the chance to do so...

"Cos-Cosmoooggg!" Cosmog had a frown on his face, shaking in fear.

"HOLD STILL AND RELAX YOURSELF! THIS'LL ONLY STING FOR A MOMENT!" Faba continued laughing like a maniac.

 _ **Back to the two romantic lovebirds...**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Heahea City (Night) - Pokemon: Sun & Moon - Music Extended: watch?v=5nMKXh6Hxgs)**_

"There, we're actually-" Eevee started talking out loud, but Vulpix cut him off by putting her paw over his mouth.

"Sshh! They're still sleeping!" Vulpix whispered, trying to stay quiet.

They finally arrived back into the cabin, and their Trainers were all sleeping peacefully on the bunk beds. There was a spot on the bed that was underneath Melanie, considering she chose the very top one. There was plenty of room on the bed, and luckily... It would just be them! Zorua was too busy yawning loudly on the table, with a bowl of pellets beside him.

"So... We're sharing beds tonight?" Eevee asked, blushing nervously.

"I can sleep on the other side if you want... We don't necessarily have to sleep next to each other." Vulpix continued mumbling to him.

"Yeah, that's fine!" Eevee replied back, heading on over to the bed.

As soon as they reached it, both of them jumped onto the bed, getting comfortable with the sheets. There were two large pillows that were meant for them, so they separated them onto their own respective sides, trying to stay away from each other. Then, they shared the same large blanket, but it was big enough for the two of them to share from opposite sides!

"*YAAAWNN!*" A loud noise came from Zorua back at the table!

He was snoring quietly, and he sounded cute too! The bowl of pellets was knocked over after he rolled to the side slightly, and the pellets just dropped to the floor, spilling everywhere!

"Jeez..." Vulpix couldn't help but giggle at him.

"I hope we don't have to be the ones to cleanup all of those pellets..." Eevee shook his head, getting underneath the covers.

"We'll be asleep by then... We should get some rest though, for tomorrow! Aren't we staying here for a week?" Vulpix wondered.

"I think so... I don't know, guess we'll find out on our own right?" Eevee yawned right after he finished his sentence.

"Okay Eevee! Goodnight, love you!" She blushed after saying that, closing her eyes.

"Goodnight Vulpix, love you too!" He whispered back, finally heading off to bed!

Both of them fell asleep eventually, and they enjoyed their first date together! It was a day they would never forget! From this day fourth, would start a new relationship between them!

 _ **Later on...**_

 _ **Time passing by the second...**_

 _ **A broken heart...**_

 _ **Would soon come...**_

 _ **To a certain female Ice Type Fox...**_

"Okay! I had enough!" She giggled uncontrollably.

She along with her new boyfriend, were on the beach playing with each other, like they usually did. The week was halfway over with already, and their team was in the lead, with the most points! Team Explorers were leading, ahead of Jessica's team!

"Alright fine! Admit it that I won!" Eevee laughed, getting off of her.

"No!" Vulpix refused, still giggling like a little girl.

"Fine, then I guess I'll have to give up with trying to get it out of you..." Eevee sighed, disappointed.

He sat down on the warm sand next to her, and they were having a blast with each other, like they always did! Whenever they were together, they would have fun no matter what!

"So... What should we do next?" Vulpix smiled, wagging her tail happily.

"I don't know... What we usually do?" Eevee started off, blushing lightly.

"Oh yeah? What do we usually do then..." Vulpix raised her eyebrow at him, noticing the adorable blush on his face.

"We usually-... Whoa!" He looked to his right all of a sudden, getting up from the ground.

"What?" Vulpix tilted her head, sitting back up to see what he was staring at.

"It's Rosie!" He asked, pointing to her.

Vulpix looked at the brown figure off to the distance, and squinted her eyes to get a better look at the object. It was an Eevee, with a rose attached to the bottom of her ear! It looked like a female Eevee, considering the rose gave the impression of it's gender!

"Eevee!" She called over to him, running as fast as she could.

Within moments, she flashed in the blink of an eye, arriving in front of Vulpix, completely taking her off guard!

"Rosie!" Eevee greeted back, giving her a soft and tight hug!

Vulpix had no idea who this other female Eevee was... But she was hugging her boyfriend? And he was hugging her back? Maybe it was just a friendly greeting...

"Are you excited!" Rosie asked, wagging her tail happily after separating from the hug.

"You bet I am, Vulpix and I were just hanging out as usual! Are you sure Jessica is fine with it? Along with Sam?" Eevee replied back, focusing only on her.

"Eevee?" Vulpix showed a look of concern, trying to get his attention back.

They were on their daily date at the beach, but this one Eevee interrupted their date? Vulpix had no idea where she came from, or who she was either... But she had a weird feeling inside of her, something that didn't feel right... He completely ignored her, pretending that she didn't even exist!

"Yeah, they're fine with it! Jessica is just training with Altaria, you should see the routine we have for our next showcase! Melanie's gonna be blown away from the competition! We'll win that Princess Key for sure!" Rosie answered his question.

"What about Sam, what's he doing? Last time I saw him, he was with Buizel and Noivern. Wasn't he busy training with Scott?" Eevee asked another question back.

By this point, Vulpix had no idea who they were talking about... Sam? Scott? Jessica? Who were these people? She just didn't know... But she definitely didn't appreciate the fact that he was ignoring her!

"EEVEE!" She rudely interrupted their little conversation, trying to get both of their attentions.

"Oh! Sorry Vulpix... I don't think I've introduced you to Rosie yet!" He laughed, turning back to face her.

"Hi!" Rosie greeted happily, showing a friendly smile towards Vulpix.

"Hey... Eevee, who is she? And why did you hug her like that?!" Vulpix suddenly got to the point, sounding angry at him.

"What do you mean? Isn't that what couples normally do..." He sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"We haven't met yet! I'm Eevee's girlfriend! I think your Trainer is Melanie? Am I right?" Rosie extended her paw out towards Vulpix for a handshake, but Vulpix just glared at her evilly.

"G-Girlfriend? E-Eevee?!" She turned back to Eevee, with tears flowing in her eyes.

"What's wrong? Why're you crying..." Eevee asked, noticing the tears streaming down her face.

"I-I just... I..." Vulpix didn't have the words.

She thought they were dating this entire time, but Rosie claimed that she was his girlfriend?

"She and I have been dating ever since we met! Didn't you hear about it?" Eevee tilted his head slightly.

"I don't think she did... Come on Eevee, we're going to be late!" Rosie took his paw and started walking away from Vulpix.

She didn't know what to say... Or do... Her heart felt achy, and her head was hurting... She simply just sat there with a broken heart, she couldn't believe this... All they've been through, all the hugging they did... It didn't mean anything to him? Was she seeing things? Or was this just her imagination playing tricks?

"EEVEE!" Vulpix tried calling him back to her, but he just ignored her...

They were faraway from her now... And they were back at the camp. He just left her... Alone on the beach...

"Hey..." An unsettling voice called from behind her.

She turned around suddenly and looked up to whatever called her, and it was someone who she'd never thought she'd see ever again... Faba was back!

"N-No! Not you again!" Vulpix stuttered, shaking in fear.

"Come here you!" He instantly ducked down and grabbed her by the throat, nearly choking her.

"*G-Gra...*" She made a choking sound with her voice, trying to break free from Faba's grasp.

"Stop squirming... Otherwise it's going to hurt even more." Faba warned her.

 _ **That's when it happened...**_

 _ **The one thing...**_

 _ **That broke her heart...**_

 _ **Woke her up immediately!**_

"AHHHH!" She suddenly screamed as loud as she could, opening her eyes as fast as she could!

She woke up from her nightmare, and found herself still in the cabin... It was dark outside, signifying that it was nighttime! She looked around the room and found out that nobody else was awake.

"Hey!" Eevee whispered to her.

He was awakened from her loud screaming, and he caught her attention.

"H-Huh?" She gasped once she saw him staring at her, he was showing a concerned look too.

"Are you alright? You just woke me up... Did you have a nightmare?" He wondered, examining the sweat running down the side of her face.

"Y-Yeah..." She replied back, nodding her head to show him.

She looked very innocent, and adorable when she was shaking like that. He felt bad for her though, and knew what he had to do.

"Come here..." He motioned with his paws for her to come beside him.

She quickly got up from her side of the bed, and leaped right over to him in one huge jump. When she landed, she laid down next to him, hugging him as tight as she could.

"What was your nightmare about?" He wondered, trying to comfort her.

"It was just... It was something shocking... It broke my heart to see it..." She admitted it, but she didn't want to rethink the dream again...

She yawned quietly and never left his side, she just continued hugging him constantly... Resting her head on his neck like she usually did.

"Warm?" He chuckled slightly, wrapping a paw around her neck.

"Yeah! I'm warm... I'm okay now!" She gave him a warm smile, but it soon faded away once he closed his eyes.

"Well good... Night Vulpix." He went back to sleep, pulling the covers over them both.

She continued laying on top of him, and never broke apart from him. Even though it was awkward to sleep in the same bed together, she didn't mind it at all... But her dream gave her a lot of heavy thoughts... Rosie? Eevee breaking up with her so soon? She only hoped that the nightmare wouldn't come back... She was hoping that nothing would ever separate their relationship. She closed her eyes shortly after yawning once more, and went back into the dreamworld.

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **Hm...**_

 _ **Again?**_

 _ **Maybe...**_

 _ **Maybe not...**_

 _ **Maybe a dream...**_

 _ **Maybe a nightmare...**_

"H-Hey! I said you couldn't do that, heh heh!" Eevee was laughing happily, while wrestling around with her.

Back at the lake once again... The lake where Eevee's last dream left off on... Except, it was from her own perspective...

"Eevee!" Vulpix giggled, playing with her boyfriend.

"Alright alright! You win, get off!" He pushed her off of him gently, and backed away from her.

"So, how'd you enjoy the breakfast?" Vulpix asked him, wagging her tail joyfully.

"It was great! Only because I got to spend breakfast with you!" He continued laughing, pulling her into a hug.

"Awh, you're such a charmer!" Vulpix giggled cutely, embracing him back.

"I know I am..." Eevee smirked, chuckling silently.

They finally broke apart, but only then... They were still holding on to each other's paws. It was great, spending time with him! It made Vulpix happy, and that was all that mattered! Both of them were happy regardless of what they did... As long as they were together!

"So..." Eevee started off another topic to talk about.

"So?" Vulpix blushed lightly, joining him.

"Have you've ever swam before?" Eevee asked her, looking off to the lake beyond them.

"No... I don't even know how to swim! I'll probably just freeze the water with my own breath! *Plwoof!*" She blew out a cold blast of air towards him.

"Ah, jeez! Okay I get your point! That was a little chilly!" He shivered slightly after the cloud of air reached him.

"See, told ya!" She couldn't help but giggle at his reaction.

"Well regardless... I think you can still get in the water no matter what! Even if you're an Ice Type." He suggested, taking a few steps closer to the lake's water.

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not a Fire Type right? Otherwise I wouldn't like it very much... I've heard funny stories about Braixen complaining to Alex when she was just a Fennekin at the time! James was telling Melanie all about it!" Vulpix laughed, following him.

He smiled back, but then he finally got into the warm water that was heating up from the sun above them! Vulpix didn't hesitate to get in with him either, she jumped right in, joining him immediately!

"There, does it feel good?" He wondered, swimming out farther into the lake.

"I-It... Well, it actually does feel nice! But how're you doing that?" She wondered, looking at him.

The only parts of their body that was sticking out were only their heads, and she had no idea how to swim...

"You just kick your legs underneath... Then you'll eventually get the hang of it." He answered, trying his best to teach her.

"You got that right! It's easy, trust him!" A voice came out of nowhere!

From underneath the water, something surfaced above, startling both of them! It was a small Water Type looking Pokémon, and it greeted them happily, acting very friendly in a way! The Pokémon was about their size, and it was clearly an aquatic looking creature too. It had stubby feet and club-like arms that appeared longer than it's own body. It had a red gem on it's chest and a yellow dot below the gem, which both glowed brightly underneath the water's surface. It's onion-shaped head also had a pair of long blue antennae, which had small spheres on the ends of each of them! It's eyes were dark blue, with a yellow sciera, and there were two yellow dots of "eyelash" markings extending from the Pokémon's eyes!

"Hey, don't scare us like that!" Eevee spoke back, laughing a bit.

"Sorry! Jeez... I'm only here because I'm bored!" The Pokémon laughed with him, swimming closer to Eevee.

"Who're you?" Vulpix wondered, examining the aquatic Pokémon for a while longer.

"Me? Oh... Sorry for not introducing myself as soon as I surfaced! I'm Manaphy, the Prince of The Sea!" Manaphy greeted himself, sounding proud of his title.

"Prince of The Sea? But we're in a lake..." Eevee was curious.

"Yeah so what, haven't you heard of me at least?" Manaphy asked him, giving him a bit of an attitude.

"No..." Both Eevee and Vulpix shook their heads, leaving the Legendary Pokémon disappointed...

"Well I can clearly see that you two have a strong and healthy... Bond? Is that right?" Manaphy smiled at both of them.

"Y-Yeah!" Vulpix blushed, trying to swim closer to Eevee.

Once they were just millimeters from touching, Eevee embraced Vulpix in a tight hug, licking her cheek with his tongue!

"H-Huh!" Vulpix gasped from the licking, she didn't expect it!

Hugging and cuddling was one thing... But he had never licked her before, that kind of action was usually reserved for... Only Mates!

"Awh! That's cute! I'm happy to see two friendly looking Pokémon together like you two! Do you both truly love each other until the brink of death?" Manaphy wondered, showing them a look of curiosity.

"Yeah! We do!" Eevee answered back, putting one of his paws around Vulpix's neck.

He noticed that she was swimming properly, as they were getting farther and farther out from the lakeside.

"See! You're doing it Vulpix!" Eevee chuckled, cheering her on.

"Yeah? It feels funny though! I'm not used to doing stuff like this!" Vulpix replied back, hugging him soon after.

"I can already tell your relationship will be healthy, and it'll go very far too!" Manaphy told them, giving a quick wink to Eevee.

"You think?" Vulpix asked, excited when she separated from Eevee.

"Well yeah! I can already tell you'll be mates till the end of time!" Manaphy teased them.

When they heard the word "mates" it made them both embarrassed in front of each other, so they didn't bother looking at one another.

"Awh! You're both blushing!" Manaphy continued teasing them.

"S-Stop it!" Vulpix demanded him to stop, but someone was swimming from behind.

"Eevee!" A feminism voice called him over.

"Huh? Wha!" Eevee gasped, when two paws wrapped around his neck.

Vulpix turned around to see who it was, and it was someone she didn't want to see...

"Rosie!" Eevee giggled, hugging her back.

"Ooo, would you look at that? Two Eevee combined..." Manaphy pointed out the obvious in front of him.

"What? ROSIE?!" Vulpix shouted angrily.

"Hi there Vulpix! Are you ready for the showcase today?" Rosie asked her, refusing to let go of Eevee.

Vulpix didn't reply back, she was just silent the entire time, acting rude to Rosie...

"You found a new rose to go on your head!" Eevee noticed how new the rose looked, and it smelled very nice too!

"Yeah, it took me ages to find a brand new one! It wasn't very hard though... I had a little help from Buizel! Jessica is busy with Alex, they're both on a date! So we have the entire day to ourselves honey!" Rosie replied back, looking beautiful with her rose.

"EXCUSE ME?! DID YOU JUST CALL HIM HONEY?! HE'S MINE! NOT YOURS! SO JUST LEAVE!" Vulpix had no idea where that anger came from, it was out of nowhere...

She caused Rosie to flinch in fear, and Eevee quite had enough of it...

"VULPIX! Can't you see you're scaring her?!" He yelled back at her, swimming closer until his paws were barely touching hers.

"What do you mean I'm scaring her? She just came in and interrupted our date!" Vulpix stood up for herself, with her heart pounding in rage.

"I was just... I'm... I'm sorry!" Rosie was starting to tear up.

"Hey, don't cry! Don't listen to her, she's just a selfless monster!" Eevee swam back to Rosie, whipping her tears away with his own paws.

"Hm..." Manaphy started rubbing his chin slightly, not knowing what was going on...

"M-Me? A selfless monster? She's the-" Vulpix began to cry from what she just heard, but Eevee cut her off from finishing her own sentence.

"It's true! You don't have to yell at her like that, being rude like you always are! I first thought that you were going to be an amazing mate to spend my entire life with, but I've just found out who you truly are on the inside! Rosie is actually nice, compared to your behavior all of a sudden!" Eevee finally put his foot down, insulting her.

"W-Wha..." Vulpix's heart was shattered yet again... She didn't know what to think of this, and she didn't know how to react back to it either.

"He's got a point... I think it's best for you if you just leave her with someone worse. Like a um... Hm... A Snorlax, or a Ditto even... or maybe a Magikarp!" Manaphy agreed, giving Eevee some advice.

"B-But-" Vulpix tried speaking once more, but she was interrupted from a loud shouting from behind!

"OH VULPIIIX! I'M HERE!" That same old voice...

The voice belonged to no-one other than Faba himself...

She turned around to look at the crazy chief, and her heart instantly froze!

"COME HERE!" Faba leaped directly towards her, startling her to death!

"AHH! NO! GET AWAY!" Vulpix screamed at the top of her lungs again, waking up from her nightmare!

 _ **Her eyes suddenly opened wide, and she found herself in the same cabin... Still next to Eevee, who was sleeping peacefully.**_

"Oh! *Gasp!* *Huff* It... It was just another nightmare..." Vulpix was sweating, and her heart was still pounding.

Rosie and Faba appeared in her dream again... Was she having visions? Or was she simply just seeing things and going crazy?

"Hey!" A feminist voice called over to her, quietly.

"Huh?" She looked ahead of her and found out who the voice belonged to.

It was Rosie! She was sleeping on the other side of the bed, and she was giving Vulpix an enthusiastic friendly looking expression on her face!

"What?!" Vulpix gasped in shock once she saw Rosie lying on the other half of the bed.

"What do you mean what? You woke me up from your scream? Did you have a nightmare or something..." Rosie asked, tilting her head back.

"No... Why do you even care?" Vulpix asked, still confused on how Rosie got into their cabin in the first place...

"Cause I care about you... I'm not some selfish Pokémon like you were being to me yesterday... Back in the lake near Lumiose... Why were you acting like that anyway?" Rosie asked, raising her eyebrow in annoyance.

"Because you interrupted our date! Eevee and I were having the time of our lives until you showed up out of nowhere! So quit following me! That's the second dream that you've visited already! Are you mad or something? Cause I didn't do ANYTHING to you!" Vulpix shouted back, not caring at all if she would wake up her other friends.

"Excuse me? Your Trainer probably put you up to this huh? You're the one getting in the way of OUR relationship!" Rosie pointed towards Eevee, then back to her.

"What do you mean your relationship? He clearly asked me out on a date yesterday!" Vulpix defended herself.

"Oh I get it now... You're just mad because I'm one of his kind, and it's also because you're just jealous!" Rosie giggled like a maniac.

"Mad? I'm mad because you're-" Vulpix tried arguing back once again, but she was cutoff...

"No, don't blame it on me... You're jealous because your Trainer couldn't even win her first Princess Key! Do you remember that day? You face planted onto the stage! Everyone was laughing at you!" Rosie started laughing out loud, sounding even more crazy.

"What're you even talking about? What showcase?" Vulpix had no idea where Rosie was going with this...

"What's wrong?! Can't remember? Did you really hit your head THAT hard on the stage? Cause that's kind of what it looked like. Jessica and I dominated that competition! Your pathetic team doesn't even stand a chance against us in the showcases! You're never going to win a Princess Key! Cause you just act like such a brat and-" Rosie kept on talking and talking, until Vulpix finally had enough of this!

She got up from Eevee and ran straight towards Rosie, giving her a menacingly death glare!

Taken by surprise, Rosie didn't expect Vulpix to do such a thing!

"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR SAYING ALL OF THAT NONSENSE!" Vulpix screamed at the top of her lungs, pouncing Rosie angrily.

 _ **As soon as she made contact with her body, she opened her eyes again to attack Rosie, but when she opened them... She found herself in a whole new room...**_

"Hey! What're you doing?" A giggle appeared from her side.

"Yeah, are you okay?" Another voice popped up too.

"Huh?" Vulpix got up from the floor, and looked around herself...

There was a spotlight on her, and there were only two Pokémon hovering above her as well... Celebi and Jirachi!

"W-What? Where am I?" Vulpix asked in fear, trying to get a good look around the environment she was in.

"What do you mean where are you? You're in the back room... Did you not remember a single thing from the competition?" Celebi hovered down just at her level, landing gently onto the floor to join her.

"Yeah... I think you hit your head pretty hard... Do you remember anything?" Jirachi joined in, landing next to Celebi.

"Jirachi?" Vulpix wondered why he was there with her.

She had no idea who Celebi was, but there was a weird eerie presence in the dark atmosphere above her.

"She remembers your name at least!" Celebi giggled, whispering to Jirachi.

"I think Hoopa did it again..." Jirachi mumbled back, still glaring blankly at Vulpix.

"What am I even doing here?" Vulpix asked the two legendaries, her heart was pounding, and her head was hurting too...

"You face planted back there on the stage... We felt really bad for you, so Hoopa just brought you somewhere else away from those mean people in the crowd." Celebi answered her question right away.

"What do you mean face plant? I don't remember face planting into anything! There has to be some reason for this!" Vulpix was freaking out, slightly losing her cool.

"Nope, it was real! Hoopa saw it myself!" Hoopa came out of nowhere, hovering above his other two legendary friends.

"Mhm! You said it right!" Then Manaphy entered the room next... Surprising Vulpix from behind.

"Huh!?" Vulpix looked at all four of the mythical Pokémon around her, freaking out even more about all of this.

"That was actually pretty funny, now that you mention it and everything!" Once again... Someone else entered the scene.

It was Rosie, and she just walked into the conversation randomly from the shadows. Vulpix was experiencing the same thing over and over again for some apparent reason... She didn't know why this certain Eevee kept on appearing in her dreams, but she decided not to be rude to her this time...

"Hey Vulpix." Rosie greeted sweetly.

"Hi!" Vulpix replied back, trying to act happy in front of everyone else.

"I felt really bad about what happened to you back there on that stage..." Rosie felt apologetic, trying to get on Vulpix's good side.

"We all are... Allow me to grant you a wish of any kind! Free candy for a lifetime, free food! Heck, maybe even an Ice Stone to let you evolve!" Jirachi offered, sitting casually.

Hoopa joined his legendary friends and they all sat on the floor together.

"No thanks, I'm not really into candy... And I don't wanna evolve just yet." Vulpix kindly turned the offer away, focusing back to what her dream was mainly about.

She began thinking heavily about all of this, Rosie, Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy, Hoopa? Who else would appear next? She had no idea why she was having these weird nightmarish dreams, but she just wanted to wake back up again, hoping to be with Eevee...

"Anyways, I know you guys aren't real... I'm still asleep aren't I?" Vulpix asked them all, trying to be sure of herself.

"Yeah... You're still asleep." Celebi finally admitted it to her.

"Exactly! No wonder..." Vulpix shook her head slightly, noticing Hoopa flying beside her.

"You'll escape from Faba soon, I hope!" He whispered into her ear.

"One can only hope... That man is a psychopath, and a stalker!" Vulpix talked bad about the man, hoping he wasn't around.

"Well I guess that leaves you to it then!" A manly voice shouted, interrupting the group conversation.

"IT'S HIM! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Celebi screamed out loud like a little girl, flying away into the shadows once again.

Pretty soon, his other legendary friends all left the scene, leaving Vulpix and Rosie alone to themselves.

"Who's coming?!" Vulpix asked, shaking a bit in fear.

"Can't answer that! He's coming fast! I gotta get back to my date with Eevee!" Rosie quickly spoke back, hurrying to get out of there.

There it was again... Whenever Rosie said that she was dating Eevee, it hurt Vulpix's heart once more... And it was worse every time it happened in the dreams...

"So you think I'm a psycho huh? Your Trainer is the one who's psycho for thinking it was a good idea to keep you." Faba appeared from above, kneeling down to her level.

"I said GET AWAY!" Vulpix screamed back, with tears flowing in her eyes!

"Awh, come here... I'm not THAT bad..." Faba mumbled, trying to be nice to her.

He was holding out a Pokéball in his hands, offering to catch her instead, but Vulpix didn't buy it... She didn't buy it one bit!

"What're you two doing?" Yet another Mythical Pokémon entered into their conversation...

Only this time... It was Diancie! And she was in her Mega Evolved form!

"This Vulpix here won't listen to a darn word I say! Her Trainer brainwashed her." Faba replied back to the Gem Princess.

"Hey look on the bright side! At least they'll pay for it once Lusamine summons the portal!" Diancie giggled with the Aether chief.

Vulpix didn't know Diancie either... She was getting to the point where she just wanted to jump off of a cliff, she was going mentally insane... But she didn't want them to talk her into anything bad...

"Mhm, it'll be a sweet revenge won't it Faba?" Rosie eventually came back, sitting down next to Vulpix.

"You KNOW it will, am I right Vulpix?" Faba chuckled to himself.

"Can I please just go back home? I JUST WANT TO WAKE UP AGAIN!" Vulpix put her foot down, shouting at everyone around her.

"Calm down!" Jirachi flew back to them all, patting Vulpix on the back.

"*sigh* You know what... Can I make that wish now?" Vulpix groaned heavily, staring Jirachi intensely.

"Wish away! Wish all you want! Jirachi is listening! Except don't make the wish too complicated, he doesn't have the exact knowledge to comprehend some words..." Celebi teased the wish maker, flying into Jirachi!

"S-Shut up! I'm a little tired alright? Of course I'm not fully awake yet... Maybe I can grant you ANY wish!" Jirachi ignored Celebi, looking back to Vulpix.

"Then I wish I was awake again! Enough with these pointless dreams!" Vulpix covered her own ears with her paws, trying to block out everyone else.

"We're just trying to warn you..." Rosie rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"No you're not... The only ones here that I trust is Jirachi! And maybe Manaphy too..." Vulpix admitted, trying to wake herself up again.

"WHAT?! So all of a sudden you can't trust me? Do you even know who I am?" Celebi gave her a sassy attitude, putting his arms on the side of his waists.

"A legendary?" Vulpix tilted her head, giggling at the Grass Type.

"No duh..." Celebi face palmed himself.

"Does anyone here want a doughnut?!" Hoopa randomly appeared from a ring, holding a box out towards everyone.

"I WANT ONE!" Manaphy came next, reaching for the box.

"WILL YOU ALL BE QUIET ALREADY!" Vulpix snapped, her face was getting red.

"Someone's mad." Faba pointed out her anger.

The Icy Pokémon was filled with rage, she was getting tired of this...

"Can you grant my wish or not?" Vulpix asked Jirachi yet again, staring only at him.

"Maybe..." Jirachi crossed his arms, giving her a rude glare.

"You just said you could grant it for me!" Vulpix yelled at the legendary, confused by his answer.

"Well... You did just kind of yell at him, so why should WE help you?" Manaphy backed up Jirachi, defending him.

"Yeah, why're you so mad?" Rosie wondered, raising her eyebrow at Vulpix.

"I'm just sick and tired of seeing YOU! You've been in my past dreams already, and you're getting annoying! You keep on saying that Eevee is yours!" Vulpix pointed her paw at Rosie, getting ready to pounce her at any minute.

"Woah woah, back up sister! You're the one acting all immature about this, you hate me for some reason... it's pretty clear." Rosie stopped her from speaking any longer, with the other mythical Pokémon behind her.

"You're right, she's acting just like a kid." Manaphy giggled with Rosie.

His other legendary friends laughed with him, and it was driving Vulpix insane!

"Manaphy, aren't you still technically a kid?" Celebi asked the Water Type, making him nervous.

"N-No!" Manaphy shook his head, and he was blushing in front of everyone.

"I can't grant Vulpix's wish unless you admit to us." Jirachi tried getting it out of the prince.

"Hoopa agrees! Manaphy is a kid!" Hoopa giggled next.

"Just please admit it..." Vulpix sighed heavily, looking to the floor.

"I agree as well, Manaphy does act like a kid from time to time." Diancie was the next to enter.

"Mhm, you said it right!" Faba was next...

"Isn't your mother human?" Celebi asked Manaphy another question, flapping his fairy wings adorably.

"Y-Yes..." Manaphy replied back, still humiliated.

"Wait, so your saying that Manaphy is part human? A human gave birth to her?!" Rosie asked in shock.

"N-N-NO! I'm still a Pokémon! She just hatched me... That's all... Haven't seen her since I left to go protect the Sea Temple. Her name was... May? I think?" Manaphy was backing himself up, trying to prove Rosie's hypothesis wrong.

"Oh yeah, her... You kept on calling her momma!" Celebi teased the sea prince, making his blush a lot redder than it already was.

Vulpix rolled her eyes, she just walked away from the group, trying to give them some space to themselves... Then, all of a sudden her heart started to ache painfully... It was a weird depressed feeling, and it didn't feel right, not one bit...

"Hey, you okay?" Jirachi went ahead and flew over to her, sitting next to her.

"No..." Vulpix sniffled, clearly giving it away to the mythical Pokémon.

"Come on, talk to me! I'm here for you! *gasp!* I know what'll cheer you up! Try talking to Mew, he's a lot of fun to hang around with!" Jirachi patted her on the back of her shoulder blade, suggesting ideas.

"It's not that... Just relationship issued... Look, I don't know if you know me or not, but that one other Eevee keeps on appearing from my dreams, and she's making me sad... There's just something about that Pokémon... It makes me feel weird, and I don't know why it happens. It only happens whenever she's around my future mate..." Vulpix started talking to him.

Jirachi glanced back to Rosie, then he focused his attention back to Vulpix soon after he was done looking.

"Jealousy isn't it?" Jirachi chuckled silently, thinking he got the answer right.

"Well... I don't know, can you just please wake me back up though?" Vulpix asked him with her adorable baby pleading eyes!

"You see there's just one thing... I don't know how to exactly wake you up... You have to do it yourself!" Jirachi simply replied back, shrugging his shoulders.

"Then how do I leave the dream world?" Vulpix wondered, giving him a sad face.

"It's easy... Just finish the dream! Every dream happens for a reason, whether it's a future warning, or a vision your seeing in the future, finish the dream on your own!" Jirachi tried explaining it the best he could, hoping that his advice would help her out with her little problem.

"Well how am I supposed to do that if they're being so annoying?" Vulpix rolled her eyes and growled slightly.

She honestly just wanted to see Eevee again, the thought of him just made her heart melt! His cute smile, his cozy scarf on his neck, his cozy fur, he made her feel warm! And he was the nicest and most innocent Pokémon she's ever met! Ever since they first laid eyes on each other, they knew from that day fourth that they were going to be mates for life!

"Yes, I know they can be annoying, especially Hoopa... Don't get me started on him just yet..." Jirachi giggled, making Vulpix smile in return.

"Feeling any better?" Celebi popped up once again, taking a seat in front of the two.

"A little bit..." Vulpix continued showing that warm smile of hers, hoping she would wake up soon.

"Well that's great! But do you really know Rosie? Or not?" Celebi asked curiously.

"No, I don't know her... She's been annoying me ever since the first dream I had tonight. Things were all happy and stuff until she came along and teamed up with my boyfriend against me!" Vulpix blushed when she heard herself saying that last part...

"Eevee?" Celebi tilted his head, continuing to stare at the beautiful Ice Type.

"Yeah, that's his name." Vulpix's blush grew even darker, and she was beginning to miss Eevee quite a bit!

"See, now you're happy again! A little giggle can make your day bright again." Jirachi gave Vulpix another pat on the back, then he hovered up into the air again.

"Wishing time?" Celebi giggled, joining Jirachi.

"We gotta help Vulpix here wake up, so... Do you have any ideas?" Jirachi asked the Grass Fairy Type.

"No..." Celebi shook his head, disappointed in himself.

"Of course..." Vulpix face-palmed herself, shaking her head casually.

"Well, I guess maybe a wish can save the day!" Jirachi announced happily.

"I wish for... Um, I wish to go back home! Wake me up from this stupid dream already!" Vulpix shouted at him instantly, startling him all of a sudden!

Without hesitating to do so, Jirachi's blue colored ribbons on his star shaped head started glowing magically!

"And... WISH!" Jirachi announced, granting her wish with all of his power!

As soon as he finished doing that... Nothing happened... And it left Vulpix very disappointed in him...

"What?!" Jirachi wondered why Vulpix had an annoyed look on her face.

"Why didn't it work?!" Vulpix gave him a slight attitude.

"Um, I tried! I can't grant anything you know! I really did try all of my power there! Nothing happened!" Jirachi complained, backing himself up.

"But you're a legendary Pokémon!" Vulpix gave another good point.

"Just because he's a legend, doesn't mean he can grant ANY wish you know... Maybe if you weren't so rude like that, then maybe it would've worked!" Celebi crossed his arms, backing Jirachi up.

"What's going on now?!" Faba asked, walking over to the group.

"Vulpix is being a bully again!" Both Celebi and Jirachi spoke at the exact same time, making the chief laugh!

"Hah, I'll teach her! GRAHH!" Faba leaped towards Vulpix, kicking her as hard as he could with his boots!

"AHH! *Pwoof!*" Vulpix lost all of her breath from the impact, feeling her body flying away from the painful attack.

Once that happened, her back collided with a concrete wall behind her, and she fell back to the floor... In total pain still!

"Gr... Y-You! *huff* *pant*" Vulpix struggled to speak, trying to regain her strength back.

 _ **Once she opened her eyes... She found herself in a cage... In a lab looking area...**_

"Oh no... Not this place again!" Vulpix thought to herself, looking around the environment.

She was back in the Aether Labs, locked up in a cage!

"That Faba... I'm telling you... he's gonna get it for sure once I see him!" She thought to herself, getting angry thoughts towards the man even more.

She then opened her mouth to fire an Aurora Beam at the cell bars of the cage hoping it would blow up in the explosion. But then... The beam reflected off of the bars and it ended up hitting her straight in the face!

"*Gr!*" Vulpix didn't expect the move to reflect back so quickly, so it stunned her.

She started rubbing her face softly with her own two paws, easily recovering from the attack.

"What the? These bars aren't breakable? Are you kidding me now?!" Vulpix screamed in annoyance, there was absolutely no way she could escape...

"You can keep on trying, but you're only going to be wasting all of your energy." Faba whispered.

"How about you show yourself and maybe I'll show you how much energy I truly have!" Vulpix continued yelling, threatening the chief.

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson for that, you understand me right?" Faba continued talking.

He eventually showed himself as he walked through one of the doorways to the room. He was holding a clipboard in his hand, that had a picture of her! Vulpix examined the papers for a second, until she realized that she was just an experimental test subject to him.

"Y-You're not... Getting away with this Faba, my friends will eventually find and save me." Vulpix was interrupted from a yawn at first, as she was running one of her eyes gently.

"Do you think I care? You little disgusting baby creature. Why'd you side with them anyway?" Faba walked closer to the cage, pounding his fist on the roof of it so that it could startle her!

"B-Because they're nice! Unlike you, you're the one who's the disgusting creature, you psychopath!" Vulpix continued insulting him, only making it worse...

"Hm, well I suppose sometimes I can be psycho, but it's what I need to do in order to get my workers to work hard and properly. Lusamine really adores you, so I can't touch you..." Faba grunted right after he finished speaking, setting the clipboard down on top of the cage.

"Who's Lusamine?" Vulpix tilted her head.

"I'm right behind you silly!" A friendly sounding voice appeared from behind.

Vulpix had enough room to turn herself around, and she noticed Lusamine standing right there! She had a friendly looking smile on her face, and it made Vulpix feel more comfortable for some reason.

"She's right there, she's the one who loves you with all of her heart." Faba chuckled joyfully, taking the roof off of the cage, and setting it down on a nearby table.

Lusamine went ahead and picked up Vulpix gently, then she held her out like a plush doll!

"Awh! My little cute adorable Vulpix!" Lusamine then rubbed Vulpix's ear happily.

Vulpix had no idea how to feel about all of this... Was Lusamine generally nice? Or was Faba just trying to show her who she truly belonged to... It didn't really matter, considering she wasn't paying attention to any of those thoughts. She felt a smile forming on her face, and she was wagging her tail back and fourth as happy as can be!

"L-Lusamine!" Vulpix said her name, trying to lick the president back.

"Yes! Momma's here! My little Vulpix is safe at last!" Lusamine continued mumbling in that sweet sounding voice of hers.

She hugged Vulpix as tight as she could, refusing to let go of her. Then, Vulpix licked the president's cheek, showing the affection back!

"There Vulpix, this is the true person you should be with... Those other Trainers that took you were actually quite evil... They keep you in their Pokéballs, for who knows how long... But you're finally home!" Faba walked up to Lusamine, petting Vulpix gently on the head.

"You just called me a disgusting baby creature! BACK AWAY!" Vulpix threatened him, getting ready to attack him with one of her icy moves.

"Sshh ssh! It's okay Vulpix, it'll just be me and you!" Lusamine turned her back against Faba, walking out of the room.

Once they were out, they were heading down a long hallway, and it was eventually leading them outside of the labs.

"Did you just say... Momma?" Vulpix tilted her head, looking up to the president.

"I asked Lillie to take care of you at first... But I was the one who saved you from your abusive parents back in Alola, you just hatched a little late from your egg..." Lusamine started explaining everything to her.

"Who were my real parents?" Vulpix wanted to know more.

"That doesn't matter anymore... I know what'll make you happy though, your mate right? The Eevee that traveled with you... He wanted to come, so I allowed him to. I'm sure seeing him will make you happy, won't it girl?" The president whispered into her ear, scratching the back of her ear.

"Hehe! Y-Yeah! WAIT, EEVEE'S HERE!?" Vulpix asked excitedly, acting like a little happy girl.

"Of course he is sweetie, he's just in my office... Do you want to visit him right away?" Lusamine offered, still continuing the petting with her.

"Yes momma!" Vulpix blushed, feeling it was right to call her that.

Vulpix never felt happy like this before, but there was something about Lusamine that Vulpix liked for some apparent reason. She seemed like a very affectionate person to be with, and Vulpix was enjoying her time with the president. Maybe this was where she truly belonged? But then again... If this was just a dream... What would it mean then? Would she finally be captured by the Aether? Or are they just trying to help her escape... She didn't truly know everything about this whole situation... But they desperately wanted her to come back to the labs.

It was at that very moment until she heard Eevee's words pop up from out of nowhere!

"Vulpix!"

 _ **She suddenly blinked, and woke up from her dream! She opened her eyes to look around, and found herself back in the cabin! The sunlight was shining all over the room from the windows, and she looked over to her right side, only to find Eevee snuggling with her.**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Heahea City (Day) - Pokemon: Sun & Moon - Music Extended: watch?v=wibRJzuFf2s)**_

"Did you sleep well? *yawn*" He yawned adorably, as usual...

"Eevee!" Vulpix giggled back, hugging him lovingly.

"Heh! I guess I'll take that as a yes then, looks like we're the only two awake." Eevee laughed.

They heard snoring coming from the floor, and both of them wanted to see who was snoring so loudly! It was Zorua of course... And he wasn't on the table any longer!

"I did sleep well as a matter of fact... But him on the other hand, I think he fell off of the table!" Vulpix giggled with her boyfriend, completely ignoring the dreams she had about him.

She was just glad to be awake again... Back in her own real world, with the Pokémon she loved the most!

"Yeah, you should've seen it! He woke me up from his loud crash to the floor! It was hilarious just seeing him, he must be really tired..." Eevee replied back, touching her paw with his.

"I wish I could've! It probably was funny." Vulpix gave him a warm blush, grinning happily at him.

"So are you ready for today?" He tried starting a conversation with her, just to pass the time.

Vulpix rubbed her chin for a while before replying,

"No... I'm still tired! Hehe!" She giggled yet again, sounding innocent!

"Then I guess I'll have to wake you up!" He chuckled nervously, rubbing her small belly with his other paw.

"O-Okay! Hehehe! Alri- AH! ST-STOP! It tickles! Heheha!" Vulpix continued giggling like a maniac, which only made him do it even more.

He kept on doing it until she got to the point where she took his paw off of her own stomach, finally having enough from the tickling.

"QUIET! I'm trying to get my beauty sleep!" Zorua interrupted the two, jumping on top of the bed.

"Gah! Z-Zorua! You're up early!" Eevee greeted him nervously.

"Did I interrupt your morning date?" He tilted his head in response, licking his paws.

He then shook his head and the rest of his body, stretching his back out. Then, he looked at the two holding each other's paws again.

"I'll take that as a yes... You two enjoy your date now..." Zorua yawned once again, he walked over to James' bed and decided to join him.

Once he reached James, he made himself all comfortable, and rested his head upon James' stomach, falling asleep soon after doing that.

"So, what was your dream actually about? Cause you looked like you were crying last night..." Eevee started another conversation, trying to pass the time again.

"I'd rather... I'd rather not think about it at this time, It's not really important anyways." She gave him a warm smile so that he could shrug it off, and forget about it, but he still continued thinking about the way she acted.

"Are you sure? You know you can always talk to me whenever! I'll be there for you all the way." He grinned, wagging his tail happily.

"Awh! You're such a charmer, you know that right? You're like honestly... The nicest Pokémon I've ever met!" Vulpix finally admitted it to him, wrapping her arms around his neck to give him a big old fashioned warm hug!

"You met me first, so there wasn't really anything else." Eevee laughed, hugging her back.

The cold chill on her body felt good for some reason, especially since it was pretty hot out during the spring.

"Have you've ever gone swimming before?" He asked her, trying to think of an idea for another time.

"No, I don't even know how to swim..." Vulpix replied back, suddenly remembering her dream about them swimming...

"Rosie... Manaphy?" Vulpix thought to herself, just staring at him directly in the eye.

"Don't worry! I don't even know how to swim either." Eevee giggled soon after.

"We could, try it sometime? If that's okay with you." Vulpix offered, showing a warm smile anyways.

She didn't think there'd be anything bad with it, even though it reminded her of her dream last night...

"You guys are up early!" Alex suddenly appeared from the side of the bed, looking awake as ever.

Along with him, Melanie started climbing down her side of the bunk bed, and reached the floor. She noticed Vulpix and Eevee together in the bed, and she couldn't help but smile at the two of them.

"Morning everyone!" She waved, acting friendly like her usual self!

She saw the small but noticeable blush on Alex's face, and then realized that James and Zorua were starting to wake up as well.

"Morning!" Both Vulpix and Eevee greeted back at the same time.

"M-Moorrning!" James woke up, along with Zorua.

He was stretching his arms and his back, while Zorua was trying to get along with him... Trying his best not to fall back asleep.

"You guys ready for today?" Alex asked everyone in the room, looking forward to their second day at camp.

"Yeah, what was it we were going to do again? *yawn*" James yawned slightly, picking Zorua up into his arms.

"We had a meeting to go to right?" Melanie reminded them, laughing to herself.

"Yup, Professor Sycamore told... Oh wait, hey James! What time is it?" Alex suddenly turned to his friend who was half awake.

"How am I supposed to know!?" James argued rudely, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"Because Jessica told me that the meeting would start early in the morning, roughly eight am ish..." Alex started making assumptions, remembering his tour with Jessica from yesterday.

Melanie remembered that dreadful name again... But quickly ignored it off.

"Um..." Melanie ran over to her bag, and looked through it quickly and carefully, once she found what she was looking for, she pulled out a watch outta nowhere, and checked the time.

"8:02..." She announced nervously.

All three of their hearts quickly froze... It was as if the world stopped spinning.

"WE'RE LATE!" Alex shouted out loud, freaking out.

They all didn't speak to each other, they were quickly putting their bags on, and grabbing their Pokémon, hurrying to leave as soon as possible. Once they were finally out of their cabin, there was no one else outside... They were the only ones! They were late!

 _ **Moments later...**_

"W-We made it! Finally! How late are we?" Alex was gasping for air after their workout of running down tons of stairs...

"It's about... 8:10!" Melanie looked back at the watch

"Shoot! We're late!" James shouted with a worried tone in his voice.

They quickly pushed open the glass doors, and walked into the large building. Inside of the place, there were lots of cafeteria looking tables scattered around. There were also a few areas to the sides that were meant for Pokémon to play at, as well as small cushioned seats too. There were toys for them of course, and there were several Pokémon! Their fellow Trainers were sitting at the tables, and they were all listening to Professor Sycamore who was giving out his speech to them all. Some of the Trainers simply just glared at them in curiosity, while others only focused onto the Professor. One person in particular was Jessica... Melanie examined the killer look she was receiving from her, and it didn't feel right... Not at all...

"Over here Alex!" Jessica welcomed only him, scooting over to make room for him to sit at.

"Hi Jessica!" Alex quickly walked over to the girl, taking his seat next to hers.

The glare she was giving Melanie quickly faded away instantly, and it suddenly turned into a happy smile...

"Hm..." James was the first to notice the interaction between her and Alex.

"He..." Melanie sighed in frustration.

"C'mon, let's just go sit over there." James grabbed her hand quickly, stopping her from speaking out any longer.

He led her onto a different table nearby, and they just listened to Professor Sycamore, acting like everybody else.

"So! Teams, today will be an easy warm up day! Your very first event is just a peaceful greeting with one another, just to get comfortable around those who you'll be competing against! We have tons and tons of food of course, and make sure your Pokémon are enjoying themselves too!" Sycamore announced happily.

"So nobody's earning any points for today Professor?" One young Trainer raised his hand to get his attention.

"Correct, the rest of the events though will reward you with points though! Enjoy the rest of your day campers!" The Professor finally finished giving his speech, walking away from the center of the room to join other fellow adults his age.

As soon as he finished talking though, everyone got up and started greeting one another. Their Pokémon even did the same thing, and everybody looked pretty happy! Eevee and Vulpix were together like always, and luckily enough... There was a little spot for them to sit at next to Melanie and James! Zorua decided to join them, looking bored as ever.

"So, just a greeting day huh?" Eevee tilted his head, looking around the room.

"More like a noisy day... All these voices, wish I was still asleep back in the cabin... *sigh*" Zorua looked to the floor, scratching his own ear with one of his paws.

"I think it's pretty nice! Who knows, maybe we'll make new friends!" Vulpix tried lightening the mood for them, feeling Eevee's paw falling on top of hers.

"W-Well... I was just wondering since now was the perfect time! Hehe... D-Did you want me to teach you how to swim after all of this is over?" Eevee rubbed the back of his head with his other free paw, sounding a bit nervous.

"Y-Yeah! I'd love to!" Vulpix smiled back, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek!

It was enough to cause a small blush to form on his face, and he certainly wasn't going to let her get away with it either! He kissed her back on her cheek, hoping she would blush back... And luckily, it worked!

"H-Ha!" Vulpix gasped from the kiss, enjoying it a lot.

"I'm so lucky that an Eevee like me met someone so beautiful like you!" He found the words coming from his own heart, trying to flirt with her.

"*Squeal!*" Vulpix made an adorable sounding voice, not believing what she just heard from him.

"Think you broke her dude... That, or maybe she's faking it." Zorua joined in on the conversation, laughing rudely.

"N-No! Well, it's just... I-... I love you, alright?" Vulpix avoided the question, staring at Eevee cutely.

"I-I love you too- Whoa!" Eevee looked behind her letting go of her paw.

"What's up?" Zorua suddenly woke up, trying to see who he was staring at.

"Um?" Vulpix had no clue either, she turned around to see who he was looking for, and what she saw nearly broke her heart...

"*Smooch!*" Kissing sounds came from this one certain Normal Type Pokémon...

"Another Eevee! Just like me huh!?" Eevee pointed out the other Eevee.

The Eevee looked exactly like him, but it looked more feminine. She had a rose in her ear, and her fur looked nicely groomed too... It was Rosie! She stared at Eevee, causing him to blush, then she waved slightly over to him.

"H-Her again?!" Vulpix gasped in shock, staring down Rosie intensely.

"Never thought I'd see another Eevee in this camp, how rare is that?" Zorua pointed out, looking at Rosie next.

"Yoo-hoo!" She called over to the trio group, winking at Eevee pretty quickly.

As soon as her wink ended, tiny floating hearts shot directly towards Eevee, and it stunned him like a bullet! He couldn't control himself anymore... His eyes turned heart shaped, and he felt himself running towards her!

"What?!" Vulpix was shocked to see Rosie, not expecting her to appear at all!

"She's hot!" Eevee suddenly shouted out.

Hearing that from him shocked her even more, as well as Zorua.

"What the?" Zorua tilted his head, confused by his friend's weird actions...

"Eevee?!" Vulpix had her paw on her mouth, trying to call him back.

"Hi there cutie!" Rosie greeted him happily, blushing lightly.

"H-Hey beautiful!" Eevee eventually replied back, which only made Vulpix worse.

"Dude! What're you doing?! You're making Vulpix upset!" Zorua yelled at him in anger.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing, neither could Vulpix. But it broke her heart... He called her beautiful?

"It's as if those dreams are real... E-Eevee!" Vulpix continued staring at the two.

She had no control over him... Something was off, and it certainly wasn't right either.

"I-I don't even know what to even say..." Vulpix sighed sadly, sniffling.

The aching pain in her heart grew even worse by the second, as she was watching her new boyfriend talking to this one girl...

"Go to him! He's your lover, win him back! I don't know what's gotten into him, but go find out!" Zorua tried pushing her into the duo.

"B-But I-" Vulpix tried speaking back, but Rosie and Eevee turned around, noticing her right away.

"Hi there!" Rosie waved towards the Ice Type very happily.

"Oh hey Vulpix!" Eevee's eyes were still heart shaped.

"Eevee? What're you doing!" Vulpix snapped at him, trying to contain her anger towards him.

"We were just going to go out on a date together, isn't that right sweetie?" Eevee looked back to Rosie, grasping her paw into his.

"Y-Yes honey! We were! Let's go to the beach or something! It'll be a lot of fun!" Rosie chuckled adorably, blushing hard from the nickname.

"W-Wha-" Vulpix couldn't find the words, it was just like the dream...

She just sat there, emotionless... Watching the two leave the scene. As soon as they were gone though, Zorua quickly rushed by her side.

"Vulpix?" He mumbled slightly to her.

"I-I-I..." She was shaking, and tears eventually ran down the sides of her face.

"Wait, maybe there's an explanation for all of this! There's gotta be!" He tried brightening up the mood of things.

"What explanation is there to witness here?! HUH? My soon to be mate was just taken away from me by some other Pokémon his breed!" She couldn't help herself anymore...

She gasped for air, and the tears didn't ever stop... Her heart was shattered into pieces, and it really really hurt...

"There had to be something about it... She looked a little suspicious when she winked at him, plus you have no idea how much he talks about you..." He admitted to her.

"W-Wha *gasp* I-I d-don't?" She still couldn't find her words.

"He's practically in love with you, so don't sweat it! That wasn't the Eevee we truly know... He was acting weird too! Did you see the look of his eyes?" Zorua frowned at her.

"OF COURSE I SAW! YOU DON'T THINK I-" Vulpix screamed, but Zorua put his paw over her mouth.

"Ssh! Calm down! There's other humans here beside us... But anyways... We're going to get to the bottom of this." He thought of a plan.

"How can I do anything... My heart is broken! My future mate was just... Taken away from me instantly..." Even more tears flowed down...

"They said they were going to the beach... I'll try and see what's going on here, just leave it to me! You just stay here okay? And calm down... Stop crying!" He spoke back quickly, running back to the front door.

He left her alone, eventually leaving the building... Once he made it outside, he saw Eevee and Rosie making their way down towards the beach, paw in paw with one another.

"This can't be right... Not at all..." Zorua shook his head back and fourth, refusing to believe any of this.

He followed them, hoping to get to the bottom of this...


	17. Ch 17, Restoring Broken Hearts!

_**Ch. 17, Restoring Broken Hearts!**_

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

 _ **Play Song!: (Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon OST - Noe Town Extended: watch?v=zqDVIe6q4YY)**_

"Almost t-there! *phew!* I finally reached them!" Zorua was panting softly.

He was just following them, considering Eevee ran off with this other mysterious female his breed. He left Vulpix heartbroken back there... And Zorua only hoped for the best, he only hoped that it was just a misunderstanding.

"There's no way he could've fallen for her just like that! He loves Vulpix, something about this just doesn't... Seem right." Zorua continued talking to himself.

Off to the short distance in front of him, giggling came from the two Pokémon, and they looked like they were having fun with each other. Zorua realized this, and quickly jumped through a small bush next to him, so that he could spy on them.

"Ow! Hey!" A Pokémon suddenly growled at him angrily.

"Oh! Whoops! Sorry, I didn't see you there!" Zorua apologized to the creature beside him, hoping he didn't upset it in any way.

"Ugh! Yes, I'm fine!" The Pokémon replied back, sounding feminine.

Zorua examined the Pokémon for a while longer, trying to guess what it was. It was a small, bipedal, rabbit-like Pokémon with brown ears that were curled up on its head. It had two types of fur covering it's body as well; a light tan fleece covered much of it's lower body, as well as the feet, and the tip of it's ears too. The other type of fur was a smooth chocolate covered pelt on the Pokémon's upper half body. It's tail was fluffy yellow, and the Pokémon suddenly gave Zorua a quick smirk in return! The Pokémon was female, and it was also a Buneary!

"Oh! You're a Buneary!" Zorua chuckled happily, helping her up off of the ground.

"Y-Yeah! And you're a Z-Zorua!" She replied back, blushing cutely in front of him.

"Well I'm glad you're alright, why're you even hiding here in the first place?" Zorua wondered, tilting his head in confusion.

"It's a long story... I was actually... Abandoned, after a showcase went horribly wrong with my Trainer..." She sighed depressingly, lowering her ears to show her emotion towards him.

"I'm sure you didn't do THAT bad..." Zorua tried cheering her up, hoping to change her mood into something better.

"Well... I don't know, my Trainer was pretty rude to me. She didn't like the fact that we never won a Princess Key, so she thought that I was the problem..." Buneary sighed, looking pretty sad.

"What was your Trainer's name?" Zorua wondered, completely forgetting about the help for Vulpix.

"Jessica... I hate her now..." The bunny sighed yet again, forcing a tear down her face.

"Jessica? What actually happened then?" Zorua wanted to know what was wrong, scooting closer to her.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Buneary spoke quickly, and began telling her story.

 _ **Flashback! (Earlier on... Dawn breaking...)**_

It was early early dawn, and the sun was about to rise upon the camp... At the beach, Jessica and Buneary were facing towards each other... And you could tell that Jessica was in a really bad mood with her Pokémon.

"It all started this morning, which is why I've been hiding here in this bush c-crying..." Buneary told the story, sniffling afterwards.

"You have no idea how mad I am at you right now! Back in our last Showcase!? We lost yet again! All because you wanted to try on those pretty looking heels!" Jessica ranted, taking out Buneary's Pokéball.

"B-But I didn't mean to! I thought it would help us win the cute dress up competition!" Buneary cried, walking up to her Trainer.

Regardless of what she said, humans couldn't understand Pokémon whatsoever... So there clearly was no point of trying to engage with them.

"If you hadn't had tried those heels on, you wouldn't have tripped out there in the first place! I'm not very fond of giving my Pokémon second chances, considering I JUST caught you..." Jessica continued on, throwing the Pokéball to the ground.

Once the device made contact with the floor, she stomped her foot on it continuously, rapidly stomping on it until it broke into many metallic pieces!

"There! All broken up! Consider yourself out of the team, we could've won our first Princess Key... Now I gotta deal with that other girl that Alex is traveling with! He told me that she is doing Showcases as well... At least I still have Rosie..." Jessica sighed slightly, walking away from Buneary.

"W-Wait! Don't go! I-I'm sorry!" Buneary began tearing up, showing signs of depression.

"No... You're finished, go find another Trainer, or else go live in the wild somewhere else..." Jessica mumbled back, storming her way back to her own cabin.

 _ **Flashback end!**_

"And that's pretty much how it went down... *sigh* What a Trainer she was..." Buneary rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as well.

"I'm really sorry to hear that... I don't know what it's like, but I can tell you're really upset about it... Hey! I got an idea!" Zorua quickly beamed in joy, sitting up.

"What's that?" Buneary giggled, looking to the Dark Type in curiosity.

"Why don't you tag along my group of friends? They're actually pretty nice! And the girl we travel with is also going to be doing Showcases pretty soon as well!" He offered her.

"R-Really? You'd offer that to me?" She blushed, tilting her head in response to his offer.

"Sure! You tag along! It'll be fun! You seem like a really cool and beautiful Pokémon anyway!" He flirted playfully, blushing back.

"Well then... I guess I can just forget about Jessica then! Sure Zorua, I'll accept your offer!" She nodded in agreement, suddenly happy about it!

"Awesome! You'll have a lot of fun, trust me! Now there's also one other thing I forgot to do..." Zorua quickly remembered why he was here in the first place... To spy on Eevee and Rosie.

"Uh?" Buneary wondered on.

"Listen, can you help me really quick?" His eyebrows dropped, giving her a sly frown.

"Of course I can... We're traveling companions now!" She responded back, still showing happiness towards him.

"Well not yet... But soon you'll be! Anyways, my friend got pulled from his girlfriend not too long ago... He's an Eevee, but this other random Pokémon that was his same species, actually dragged him away from using some move on him, and I have no idea how to get him back! His girlfriend is pretty upset about it... But he's been attached to this other girl nonstop!" Zorua explained it all to her the best he could, hoping she would understand it.

"It was probably Attract..." Buneary crossed her arms, coming up with an answer right away.

"How can you tell?" Zorua continued.

"If he has a girlfriend... There's no way he could've fallen for this other girl so easily... You said she used a move on him right? I know Attract as well, but I only use it during battle to distract my opponent..." Buneary spoke back softly.

Zorua did a quick flip into the air, transforming himself into a random Pokémon. Once his transformation ended, he revealed himself as a Pikachu!

"It could've been... But then again, I don't truly know whether it's real or not... How can we tell he's in love with her?" Zorua asked.

"His eyes would be shaped like hearts, that's an effect from the move! We better hurry up and find them though, we don't want his girlfriend to get anymore upset!" Buneary stood up, leading him outside of the bush.

"R-Right!" Zorua nodded, following her outside again.

Once they made it outside of the bush, the two lovebirds were sitting on the warm sand beside each other, enjoying themselves quite a lot!

"How are we going to approach this?" Zorua whispered into her ear.

"Relax, I can probably smooth talk her into dating some other guy... In the meantime... Let's just hope his girlfriend is handling herself pretty well..." Buneary mumbled back.

"I don't think she is... I left her crying back there..." Zorua rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"I think it'd be best if-" Buneary began taking yet again, but she was cutoff from a very angry rude voice!

"What're you two doing here?!" Rosie suddenly interrupted their conversation, running up to them, along with Eevee next to her.

"Hey hey, calm down now babe! I'm sure they didn't mean to bother us." Eevee stood up for them, giving her a warm hug.

It didn't look right... Not to Zorua, he was used to seeing him hugging Vulpix, not this other random Eevee.

"We were just cruising along, we didn't want to disturb you two." Buneary lied, giving a good first impression.

"Well we thought you guys were sneaking up on us or something! Can't you see him and I are on a date together!?" Rosie groaned at them, showing attitude in her behavior.

"You don't have to be all rude about it, you're the one who took Eevee away from Vulpix in the first place!" Zorua suddenly got angry at her, revealing his true self.

"Ah, so you were the Zorua back there weren't you? I think it's pretty fair, it was love at first sight! We were made for each other!" Rosie hugged Eevee, refusing to let him go.

"No it's not fair! You used Attract to lure him into you, that's not right at all! He's dating Vulpix at the moment! Why don't you go and date some other Eevee, huh? I'm sure there's plenty of your kind somewhere out there." Zorua argued back.

"Guys calm down..." Buneary tried settling it down.

"No! No! No! And no! I did not use Attract on him! Besides, she should've said something to me before we left, you know what that means right? It means she doesn't love him enough to fight me for him! She just sat there crying, he's clearly in love with me! Isn't that right honey?" She turned her head to face Eevee, blushing innocently.

"B-But!" Zorua stuttered, blown away from her counter sentence.

She had a good point... But he was boiling mad! She didn't have the right to take him away from Vulpix!

"It's right babe! We're going to be together, forever!" Eevee smiled back, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hehe! You're such a charmer, come on! Let's go for a little swim huh?" Rosie tightened her grip on his paw, running off to the shores of the beach.

She completely ignored the fact that Buneary and Zorua were there, and they didn't appreciate it... Not one bit!

"We gotta do something about this... His eyes are clearly heart shaped still, meaning the effect is still on him, where is his girlfriend at?" Buneary asked her new friend, trying her best to help him.

"I'll show you, but we have to be quick! There's no telling what she's doing right now!" Zorua quickly ran back to the large cabin at the center of the camp, hoping Vulpix was still okay.

 _ **Back with her...**_

"D-Does he even..." Vulpix sniffled, looking off to the sky above her.

"Hey." A mumbled voice appeared from behind.

She was sitting alone by herself, right outside of the building, just staring off blankly... She was heartbroken, and she just didn't understand why he left her in such an instant.

"Why're you out here alone?" The familiar voice spoke softly once again.

"I don't wanna talk about it Buizel..." She remembered his voice from yesterday, without turning around.

He came outside to see how she was doing, then he took a seat next to her, feeling the sad presence coming from her body.

"C'mon, tell uncle Buizel what's wrong!" Buizel joked around with her, tickling her belly with his paw.

"Hehehe stop!" Vulpix blushed innocently, pushing his paws away gently.

"There's that nice looking smile! How was your date with Eevee yesterday night? Noivern told me about your guy's flight." He continued to talk, chuckling silently.

"It was, it was great! Definitely the most fun I've ever had with him! He's a really cute guy, and I love him to death!" Vulpix admitted her feelings, daydreaming about Eevee.

"That's always good to hear! Where is he even? Is he in his Pokéball or something?" Buizel crossed his arms, closing his eyes.

"N-No... *sniffle* He just abandoned me, for some other Eevee his kind." She finally told him what was going on.

"W-What?! Oh wait... It's Rosie huh?" Buizel's eyes went wide open after hearing that from her.

"You know her name?" Vulpix tilted her head slightly, staring at her paw next.

"Yeah, my Trainer is practically best friends with her Trainer, so we talk often... But I am truly sorry to hear that stuff! How could he just leave you like that though? It really did look like he loved you a lot." Buizel continued asking questions.

"I just don't wanna talk about it... I'm upset at him, I don't think you know what I'm feeling right now." Vulpix shed a small tear from her eye, still staring blankly at the ground.

"Well okay... I hope that everything will be alright with you, I'll be inside... You know where to find me if you need a talk or anything." Buizel got up from the ground, and started making his way towards the building once again.

Once he did that, he left her alone again, and she continued looking depressed as ever, she placed her paw onto the ground, and started drawing on a small patch of sand. She drew a heart shaped symbol, and then she wrote letters on the inside of the heart.

The heart's letters read, "E + V? Or E + R?"

"Eevee and Rosie... Or Eevee and me..." Vulpix spoke to herself, eventually letting out a small depressing sigh.

"What's up..." A feminine voice appeared, distracting her out of her thoughts.

Vulpix turned around to see who it was, and forced a smile to the other fox Pokémon. It was Braixen, and she was standing over Vulpix!

"Braixen?" Vulpix looked up to her, giggling slightly.

"You look a bit lonely here! Mind if I join you?" Braixen wondered, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow.

"Sure, go ahead!" Vulpix nodded back, allowing the Fire Type to accompany her.

Braixen took the opportunity and sat down right beside her, looking happy as ever!

"You seem well, we haven't spoken to each other in quite a while, how're you and Eevee doing?" Braixen asked the little Ice Type.

"Good..." Vulpix led her on, sounding depressed still... But she forced a smile back.

"We were dating." Vulpix continued speaking.

"He finally asked you out? That's exciting! Wait... What do you mean by that...?" Braixen suddenly realized how Vulpix said it.

"We WERE dating... Guess we're not anymore." She sighed, looking to the ground.

"Alright... I can already tell something's going on between you two, care to tell me what it is?" Braixen mumbled softly, trying to be friendly.

"He and I are just going through a few issues at the moment... He ran off and ditched me for some other female Pokémon his kind." Vulpix admitted it.

"Like another Eevee?" Braixen asked yet again.

"Mhm, I've had a few dreams of this happening... But I just didn't expect it to happen instantly, which caught me off guard." She continued.

"Well if he truly loves you, I don't understand why he would run off like that, you guys spend a lot of time together... So there's gotta be an explanation." Braixen thought more about it.

"That's what Zorua was telling me, he went off to check on them both, just to see if there was something wrong with him! But... I don't think that's the truth... Maybe he does love her... It's another Eevee." Vulpix got sad again.

"C'mon don't say stuff like that, you don't know for sure." Braixen tried cheering her up.

"Well... If you say it like that... Then I guess-" Vulpix mumbled quietly, but she was cutoff from a friendly voice!

"Hey! Vulpix!" Zorua came out of nowhere, approaching her instantly.

She, along with Braixen, noticed Buneary standing beside him, and they both looked pretty tired, almost as if they just finished jogging a mile!

"Zorua! Did you find anything? A-About him?" Vulpix tilted her head slightly, filled with curiosity.

"Yeah, he's just... *sigh* He's been clingy to her, a little bit too much. They're holding paws, kissing each other on the cheeks, I don't know what to do with it, and neither does our new friend here either." Zorua winked at Buneary, but still sounded disappointed.

"Hi! Buneary waved her paw, greeting the two.

"Hey!" Braixen waved back, trying her best to be friendly.

"I knew it... Braixen, there's no way out of this! I might as well just forget about him..." Vulpix felt the need to cry in front of everyone.

Her heart was still aching, and they TOO felt the depressed aura coming from her body!

"Wait don't say any of that yet, maybe it's not too late to change him back. Look... I know he's not the real Eevee, none of this can even happen!" Zorua walked up behind her, comforting her in a soft warm hug.

"W-What're you talking about?" Vulpix shot a confused glare at him, looking more innocent.

Buneary stepped in with them, and started explaining the whole thing.

"His eyes were heart shaped, and that was an easy clear sign to witness too. He's under the effect of Attract, but it's still on him for some reason..."

She started rubbing her chin, while she also noticed that Vulpix was looking a lot better.

"S-So... You're telling me that he's still in his own body? But just like... Hypnotized by her at the same time?" Vulpix replied, wagging her tail slightly.

"Mhm, Attract does that, but it doesn't last very long. I don't know why it's still on him, but it should be gone any moment now, unless she uses it against him right after he's free..." Buneary mumbled back.

"Then there's no time to lose, we gotta get there quick! Zorua, where'd you see them last?" Vulpix turned to her friend, and gave him sincere pleading eyes.

"The beach, just follow me!" Zorua led the way and started running towards the beachside, hoping to save their friend.

 _ **Momentarily...**_

"Wait... I know what you're going to do, so just cool it down alright?" James whispered into Melanie's ear.

He was trying to stop her from confronting Jessica and Alex sitting together!

"But just look at them, She's taking him away from me... I can feel it inside of me!" She gave him a dirty look back, continuing to stare at the two in shock.

"That's jealousy..." James pointed out, crossing his arms.

"Mhm... Are you jealous of Jessica?" Another fellow young Trainer their age joined the conversation, interrupting them.

"You know her?" James looked back to the kid in curiosity.

"I'm not jealous!" Melanie tried to stay quiet, so that Jessica and Alex wouldn't hear her.

"Um... Like I was saying... Yes! I know her, we're good friends." The kid grinned happily from ear to ear.

"Ugh, great..." Melanie rolled her eyes in annoyance, taking her bag off of her.

"Is that boy over there your boyfriend or something?" The kid raised his eyebrow, hoping to get answers from her.

"N-No! He's not..." Melanie shook her head quickly, blushing heavily.

"Not yet, but he will soon!" James patted her on the back, comforting her gently.

"Good luck with that, looks like they're having a good time together." The kid closed his eyes and then stared at the ceiling of the room.

Both James and Melanie examined their friend for a bit longer, clearly noticing the smile on his face. He and Jessica were giggling like crazy, and it only made Melanie feel worse... Her heart ached a little, and she felt something building inside of her body. Was it jealousy? Or was it sadness... She didn't really know, but it wasn't right.

"Look at them..." She sighed softly, turning her head back to James.

"Don't worry about it, I'm going to help you... It's what friends are for! Let's just focus on meeting new people huh? How about this... After this whole meeting is over, do you want to go get a new Pokémon or something?" James offered, trying to get her mind off of the topic.

She thought about it carefully, they didn't have much Pokémon in the first place, so it wouldn't hurt right?

"Well... I guess it'll be alright, it'll be fun!" She gave him a warm smile afterwards.

"Good, just get your mind off of them for now." He nodded, grinning back happily.

"If you can even catch a Pokémon..." The kid smirked at the two.

"What was that?" James raised his eyebrow, noticing the attitude coming from him.

"Nothing, you look like the kind of person who doesn't know how to catch a Pokémon!" The kid laughed, suddenly showing the rude side of him.

"Now that was uncalled for, I DO TOO know how to catch a Pokémon, it's easy! You just attack them, then once their weak, you throw a Pokéball and catch them!" James argued back, standing up for himself.

"And how dare you talk to him that way, he never did anything to you." Melanie backed him up as well.

"Judging on how you're acting for someone who doesn't really look strong, I suggest you stay out of this sweets." The kid opened his eyes again, giving her a death glare after staring oddly at Alex.

"Excuse me? He's strong! He has two badges already." She shouted angrily.

"Him?! You expect me to believe that? I bet I could beat him any day of the week. He probably doesn't have one single Pokémon on him." The kid rolled his eyes.

"Who're you even? And why're you being so rude to us?" James asked, bothered from him.

"I forgot to do that... I'm Sam, I have four badges already! Right now, I'm just taking a break because I always come here with my friends. Jessica is doing the same thing too, looks like you're doing Showcases huh?" Sam introduced himself, staring down Melanie and only her.

"Soon I will, but I-" Melanie began talking back, but he had already cut her off by slamming his fist down on the table.

"Pfft... Okay, Jessica will dominate you in your next Showcase, I guarantee you that will happen. What kind of Pokémon do you guys even have?" Sam continued acting rude to them.

"Let's see... A Grovyle, and a Fletchinder." James answered his question right away.

"A Hoenn Pokémon huh? Just two?!" Sam replied.

"I have three, but I'd rather not trust giving you the name of him. You'd probably spread it around so that someone can try and take him away from me." James refused to tell him about Zorua.

"It's probably just a weak Pokémon anyways... What about you sugar?" Sam looked over to her next.

"Don't call me that!" Melanie suddenly shouted at him, getting up from her seat.

Nobody wasn't really paying attention to them, considering the other Trainers were doing their own thing. They just sat at the middle section of the table alone with Sam, along with Jessica and Alex, who were sitting on the farther end of the table with a few others around them.

"Whoa! Whoa, calm down now! I just wanna know what kind of Pokémon YOU have! They're probably stronger than this weakling here." Sam laughed at James rudely.

"Well I don't really like the rude attitude, you on the other hand, look like an abusive Trainer!" James pointed out, assuming he was a bad Trainer.

"You think I'm a bad Trainer?" Sam yelled back, getting up from the table next.

"Come on James, let's go. We don't have time for this!" Melanie touched James shoulder, trying to leave Sam alone.

"Go ahead, leave me alone... I'm getting annoyed just by looking at you two." Sam turned around, walking away from them.

"Let's just go find other people to talk to..." Melanie suggested, feeling the angered presence coming from James.

"Fine... But still, he was rude." James sighed heavily, getting up from their spot.

"Ignore him, you find a lot of rude people everywhere..." Melanie tried calming him down.

"I guess you're right... Let's go talk to other groups!" James smiled, eventually returning back to his happy normal self again.

"Mhm!" Melanie nodded back excitedly, pulling him up from his seat.

 _ **Now...**_

"So what else have you've seen so far? Besides the crazy people at Geosenge Town." Jessica giggled cutely, while blushing in front of Alex.

The two of them were having a good time, getting to know each other better!

"You've been there too?" Alex tilted his head slightly, blushing back lightly.

"Well yeah, I'm a performer! I like to travel across the region so that I can perform in Pokémon Showcases! Say, isn't your friend doing them too? Melanie? Something like that?" Jessica wondered.

"Yeah, you got it! She's a good friend of mine." Alex answered back, putting his hands behind his head casually.

She noticed the blush growing darker on his face, then she turned her head around to look at Melanie.

"Ugh... Her? Of all people? I look way prettier..." She thought to herself, annoyed.

She soon came back to her senses and focused on Alex yet again.

"So, what kind of badges have you collected so far?" She gave him her happy tone again, hiding her angered look.

"Just two... Taking a short break though, right now my friends and I are just going to stay here at camp until it's over, then we'll head out to Shalour City for my next Gym Badge." Alex answered back joyfully.

"That sounds like it'll be fun, good luck when it comes! I'm just glad I got to make a new friend like you." Jessica admitted, rubbing her fingers together shyly.

"I'm glad too! Hey, what kind of Pokémon do you have anyway? I'm curious!" Alex chuckled.

"The other two are a surprise, I have three total though..." Jessica refused to tell him.

"Fine, at least tell me one!" Alex begged, sounding a little disappointed.

"An Eevee." She eventually let it out, grinning once again.

"Whoa! You have an Eevee? So do I!" Alex gasped in excitement.

"W-Wait, you actually have one?" Jessica sounded shocked to hear that.

"Well of course I do! I hatched it just before Brackish Town. You sound a little bit surprised from that!" He explained some more.

"I just never thought I'd meet another person with an Eevee on their team, they're very rare Pokémon here in Kalos hehe!" She giggled adorably, causing a blush to herself.

"Well, that wasn't all part of it... One of my Pokémon and I have a special bond with each other." He smirked, playfully acting cool.

"Special bond huh? What kind of Pokémon is it?" She was into it now, leaning closer to him.

"A Braixen, she's my partner! She's been there for me ever since I started my journey. Ever since she was just a Fennekin, I found her outside on the streets of Lumiose City, abandoned by her abusive Trainer. He wasn't treating her right, so he just left her alone in the dark..." He began telling the story to her, quickly catching all of her attention.

"Awh, that sounds terrible!" She had her hand over her mouth, clearly surprised.

"Yeah... But now she's happy again. I've practically raised her, and she's been there for me ever since! Along with my other two friends that I'm travelling with." He glared at Melanie and James who were on the other end of the table, and Jessica soon followed eye contact with them too.

"Grr..." Jessica thought to herself, clenching her fists in rage.

"You wanna go meet them?" Alex offered, getting up from the table.

"O-Oh um! Sure Alex." Jessica tried her best to act happy, while hiding the mean side to her.

She eventually did the exact same thing, following him to Melanie and James! She wasn't looking forward to this whatsoever, considering she was filled with a weird anger towards Melanie.

"Hey guys!" Alex greeted both of his companions happily, standing proudly next to Jessica.

James and Melanie turned their heads to look at him, and they too noticed Jessica. Upon seeing her though, Melanie had an annoyed look on her face, and James had a concerned one instead.

"Hey Alex." James waved slightly back, forcing a fake cough soon after speaking.

"This is not going to turn out okay..." Jessica thought to herself, refusing to look away from Melanie's eye contact.

"I don't think you guys officially met her yet, this is Jessica!" Alex introduced her, laughing slightly.

"Hi..." Jessica went ahead and greeted them, still staring down Melanie.

 _ **Back to the others...**_

"So can you really transform into any Pokémon?" Buneary curiously asked her new friend.

"Of course I can, if I can picture the Pokémon in my head, then I can transform myself into it! Pretty cool huh?" Zorua chuckled nervously, trying to act cool.

"C-Cool? More like amazing!" Buneary blushed lightly, walking closer to him.

"Can you two lovebirds stop?" Vulpix rudely interrupted their moment.

Hearing that word made both of them blush almost instantly, and Vulpix was already in a bad mood...

"Vulpix calm down, we'll get Eevee back, I promise." Braixen tried calming her down, clearly noticing the attitude coming from her friend.

Vulpix sighed slightly, dropping her ears in the process of doing so. She looked pretty upset, and they just wanted to help her with her little problem.

"Are you sure he's hypnotized?" Vulpix quickly asked a question, hoping to get more answers from her companions.

"Of course he's hypnotized, I saw it myself! The hearts in his eyes, that's from Attract." Buneary answered back calmly.

"I hope you're right..." Vulpix let out a depressing groan.

"If it was the real Eevee, he would've forgotten about her, and he would've still been here next to you." Zorua tried lifting her spirits up.

"Well, when you put it like that... It actually makes sense now." She smiled warmly, giggling a little bit while blushing at the same time too!

"There they are!" Braixen pointed with her finger towards two Pokémon on the beach.

They finally reached the beach, and sure enough... It was Rosie and Eevee, and they were practically hugging each other until the end of time! Immediately after noticing them, our group of friends quickly rushed over to break their little romantic moment together.

"E-Eevee!" Vulpix yelled towards her boyfriend, hoping she would get his attention.

When he finally heard her voice, he turned to look at her straight in the eye, but his eyes were still heart shaped!

"See there it is, right there! Look at his eyes!" Buneary pointed out the obvious.

Everyone around her noticed it too, and they tried getting a closer look at him, only to find out that Rosie was looking quite raged!

"Eevee snap out of it! You're being mind controlled practically!" Zorua shouted at the two.

"You two listen here, he's mine! And there's nothing you can do to stop me, isn't that right sugar?" Rosie replied back selfishly, taking Eevee's Paw.

"You're right babe, now are you going to finally introduce me to that lovely looking Trainer of yours? Or are we going to just sit here and be bothered by these other low life Pokémon in front of us." Eevee smiled back, giving her a quick peck on her cheek.

"H-Hehe! Let's go!" Rosie started leading him off back towards the staircase once again.

"STOP!" Braixen screamed at them.

However, they didn't turn around... They just kept on walking forward, completely ignoring their presence.

"Eevee?" Vulpix mumbled slightly, with watering eyes.

She felt the need to drag herself towards him, but that was a mistake! Upon trying to reach for his paw, he quickly turned around and smacked her paw, taking her off guard instantly!

"Gah!" Vulpix gasped in shock, startled from his sudden movement.

"Eevee what's wrong with you? She's right there in front of you! The love of your life, and you're just treating her like-" Zorua spoke again, but Eevee had already cut him off.

"NO! You listen here, leave us alone to ourselves! Quit trying to follow us around! And why would I ever want to date something so hideous looking like her?" Eevee glared at Zorua for a quick second, before raising his eyebrow at Vulpix.

"E-Eevee?" Vulpix's tears started streaming down her face slowly, as she couldn't believe what was happening.

"Stop this right now! This has gone far enough!" Buneary stepped in, wrapping an arm around Vulpix's neck.

She used the fluff on her body to clean off the tears, but they just continued flowing down...

"Forget about them Eevee, let's head back." Rosie finally stopped the scene, yanking hard on Eevee's paw.

"Ah! Okay!" Eevee was startled as well.

They continued on to the staircase until they finally reached it, going up the steps afterwards.

"Ugh! Don't let them get away!" Braixen whispered into Zorua's ears.

"Right! I'll spy on them! In the meantime, cheer Vulpix up! Don't let her hopes get down just yet, that's definitely not the Eevee we know." Zorua mumbled back, doing a quick flip into the air.

As soon as he landed back onto the ground, he transformed himself into a Kecleon!

"A Kecleon? Cool choice! You can go invisible right?" Buneary asked, tilting her head sideways.

"Y-Yeah! I think I can." Zorua replied back, rubbing the back of his head while blushing lightly in front of her.

"Quit the flirting you two, just go already Zorua! This is serious! If Eevee gets taken away like this, then it'll only make it worse for Vulpix!" Braixen rudely cut her way into their little moment, but with a really good reason to do so.

"It's... It's already too late! He belongs to her n-now..." Vulpix gasped slightly, shedding a river flow of tears.

"Don't say that! Cheer up! It's not what it seems, that's not the Eevee you know." Zorua tried making her feel better, but it didn't work.

He gazed at Braixen for a quick moment, noticing the eyebrow raise she was giving him. Without further ado, he quickly ran back as fast as he could so that he could catch up to Eevee and Rosie.

"Don't worry Vulpix, I'll get this taken care of! Leave it to me!" Zorua proudly thought to himself, filled with such confidence!

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

"Too many rocks! How exactly do we get into this darn stupid cave?" Emily complained as usual.

"Shut up already! We'll just blast our way through the entrance!" Mark yelled in response, holding a Pokéball in his right hand.

He along with his fellow coworkers were already in front of Reflection Cave's entrance. The only thing that stood in their way now was the blocked off path, and they couldn't do anything about it!

"Um, you know we should probably just head back to Faba, the chances of them still being at Shalour City, are very slim!" Emily pointed out, trying to change his mind.

That was when Mark turned around to give her a devastating killer look. One that would make you feel uncomfortable...

"We've already come this far, we HAVE to hunt them down! That Vulpix is our most valuable thing here. It is the only Alolan Pokémon we have from the labs. It is also Lusamine's as well, if she finds out that Vulpix was stolen, then we're ALL in trouble." Mark replied, crossing his arms in return.

"What's so important about that Pokémon anyways? You have to admit... You guys treat them pretty badly!" Emily argued back.

The other workers around them started backing away from the two, hoping that they wouldn't have to enter the conversation.

"How so?" Mark wondered, still looking angry.

"Well, with all do respects sir... Let's see, you cage them up, not giving them any freedom in the labs, second, you-" Emily started listing off her reasons, but quickly stopped after Mark was about to say something.

"Let me stop you right there! We HAVE to do that in order to keep them behaved, we're not fond of shocking them with those collars, but it's the only way to make sure they don't resist back." Mark backed himself up.

"Then why can't you just build a paradise for them in the labs? Rather than keeping them locked up in a small metal uncomfortable cube to sleep in?" Emily sounded desperate at this point.

"Like I already said, they'll eventually turn on us, and try to escape! I'm sick and tired of this conversation already, you're acting like Lillie! Do you want to be locked up in a cell with her too?" He threatened her, trying to get out of this pointless argument.

"Ugh... No sir..." Emily sighed heavily, crossing her arms rudely.

She didn't have a say in anything... After all, she was only just a worker... Nothing more than that. She watched as Mark led the rest of her coworkers into Reflection Cave. She tried her best to save Alex and his friends some time to escape from them, but the only thing that mattered now... Was stopping Mark!

"I hope you're already past Shalour City Alex." Emily thought to herself, eventually following her crew.

 _ **Back to it!**_

"It's really nice to meet you James! And Melanie too..." Jessica sounded happy until she mentioned Melanie's name.

Hearing this bothered Melanie... She was onto this girl, as well as James.

"So, now that we've officially met! Good luck on winning the next event tomorrow." Jessica smiled once she returned to look at Alex.

"Yeah... Good luck." Melanie replied back, sounding empty inside...

Before heading off, Jessica winked at Alex before walking somewhere else. Once she did that, she finally left the group alone to themselves.

"Hey wait up! I wanna meet your group next!" Alex quickly caught up to her, resting his hand on the back of her shoulder blade.

"O-Oh? You do? I don't think you officially met them yet!" Jessica laughed innocently, blushing widely.

"Of course I do! That way I know who I'll be up against." Alex grinned, chuckling nervously.

"Fine fine, you can meet them. Just follow me and it'll be quick and simple!" She smiled back in return to his happy gesture.

Until, she felt a fuzzy body rubbing against her foot! She quickly looked down to see who it was, and sure enough, it was her own Pokémon, Rosie!

"Rosie! Hi there you cutie!" Jessica quickly bent down to scoop up her Pokémon right into her arms playfully, and Alex continued smiling at the two of them together!

"So this is your Eevee huh? Nice to meet you Rosie!" Alex greeted the Eon Pokémon joyfully, and rubbed his hand over her back.

"Hi!" Rosie greeted him back, licking him across his face adorably.

"Rosie this is Alex! He's a pretty nice guy, so don't be too rough on him during the competitions for the week." Jessica stroked her fur delicately.

"Okay! But you should be telling that to our team instead!" Rosie giggled some more.

"What'd she say?" Alex wondered curiously.

"I don't know! I don't speak Pokémon..." Jessica replied back.

She forced an even bigger smile to appear on Alex's face, as well as a light blush too! That is until, another piece of fur rubbed against her other foot!

"Ooo? Who's this?" Jessica looked down to the creature.

"My new boyfriend!" Rosie continued giggling like a mad girl!

"That's right babe! This your Trainer?" Eevee suddenly asked, looking up to Jessica.

"Eevee you're here too? I thought you were still in your Pokéball?" Alex asked his Pokémon.

"Is this your Eevee?" Jessica smiled at him, examining the small Evolution Pokémon.

Eevee took the chance and jumped right on top of Alex's head almost instantly! Once he finally reached that, he licked Alex across his cheek enthusiastically!

"I wanted to explore! Look where that got me! A cute looking babe for the rest of my life!" Eevee chuckled once Rosie caught his eye.

"Oh shut it you!" Rosie laughed, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Awh! Two Eevee! You don't see that often!" Jessica pointed them out, hugging Rosie in return.

"Yeah, you really don't! Looks like they're already friends though!" Alex agreed with her, looking down at the two.

"Yeah, more than friends though! More like mates!" Rosie admitted it to the two Trainers, obviously knowing that they didn't understand her one bit...

"She said it!" Eevee chuckled nervously along with her, grabbing her paw romantically.

"You know it's true my love!" Rosie felt flattered, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Awh! They look so cute together! Don't they?" Jessica admired the two being close to each other, feeling the romantic presence coming from them!

"Guess they do, still pretty cool though that we both have Eevees!" Alex exclaimed happily.

Little did he know though was that James and Melanie were watching them both the entire time... A look of jealousy appeared on Melanie's face, and Jessica quickly noticed it through the corner of her eye!

"Hmph... Weirdo, what's her problem with me?" Jessica thought to herself, but quickly focused back onto her own Pokémon instead.

"Anyways, I think we should go introduce you to my group then shall we?" Jessica continued on, setting Rosie back onto the ground.

Once she finally did that, she took Eevee calmly and gently from Alex's arms, and set him on the ground too next to Rosie.

"Will they be alright by themselves without us watching them?" Alex wondered, showing a concerned look at his new friend.

"Of course they will! Don't worry about it, let's go meet some people huh?" She took his hand ever so sweetly, blushing happily.

Upon contact, Alex felt himself blush as well! A warm fuzzy feeling surrounded his heart, and it definitely was something he never felt before with any girl. Usually it only happened with Melanie, but something about Jessica made his day!

"Y-Yeah, let's go!" Alex chuckled nervously, trying to contain his excitement.

As soon as he said that, Jessica leaded him on towards a different table with even more people sitting at it, it was time for him to meet the other groups of the camp!

"Hey, they're gone now! We can finally have time to ourselves sweetie." Rosie pulled Eevee into a warm hug.

"We just had our alone time at the beach babe, heheh." Eevee couldn't help but chuckle from her response.

She rolled her eyes playfully back at him, before speaking some more.

"Yeah, but that alone time we had earlier got interrupted from those other annoying Pokémon." She finally spoke out.

"Fine, let's go outside then shall we?" He walked past her, grabbing her paw romantically.

On the other hand... There was a certain Pokémon watching the two...

"Great, what're they up to now?" Zorua thought to himself, revealing himself.

He was still transformed, but he stopped using his invisibility.

"I better keep spying on them, I just hope Vulpix is-" Zorua sighed, but got interrupted by a sudden tap on the back of his shoulder.

"You can fully reveal yourself now..." Sure enough, it was no one other than Vulpix herself!

When he turned around and noticed her, he was shocked! He didn't expect to see her so soon after he just left!

"Vulpix?" Zorua tilted his head, doing a quick flip in the air.

When he landed, he was back to his normal self again, but the look on her face made him confused.

"Hi..." Vulpix groaned, opening her eyes fully.

"H-Hey? You alright?" Zorua asked her, just to be safe.

"Yeah, they cheered me up... But let's not focus on that right now. I'm convinced that we can break Eevee out of that love spell move she used on him." Vulpix went straight into the conversation.

"Well that's good, keep your spirits high! Where're the others at?" Zorua looked behind her, trying to see where their friends went.

"They're with James and Melanie... But I guess it's just you and me now. Did you find anything else with them though?" Vulpix wondered, giving him an odd stare shortly after.

She definitely sounded a lot better than before, and Zorua felt a little proud about her getting over it easily.

"They went outside, maybe if we attack him or something, it'll knock him right out of his love state. Apparently you talking to him isn't enough, so we should try that instead." Zorua started brainstorming ideas.

"Well we have no time to lose, I don't wanna lose the love of my life to some other Eevee girl who thinks he loves her back!" Vulpix stomped her paw onto the wooden floor as hard as she could.

"You couldn't have said it any better, let's go!" Zorua quickly led the way outside of the building.

Vulpix nodded her head in agreement, she wasn't going to let Rosie get away, not like this... She was going to get her Eevee back! After thinking more about him, she ran up to Zorua, catching up to him eventually.

 _ **Several seconds later...**_

Once they finally made it outside again, the two rare Pokémon looked around for any signs.

"Do you see them anywhere?" Vulpix asked, scanning the environment with her own two eyes.

"Um... No? Nothing at all... Oh! Wait a sec! There they our! To our right hand side!" Zorua quickly pointed his paw at the duo, who were both resting their heads upon one another.

Vulpix followed after his paw, and soon tracked both of them. Upon seeing the two, she gasped in shock!

"W-Wait, what're they doing?" Vulpix asked angrily.

She pushed Zorua aside gently, and ran up to the two. Rosie and Eevee just sat there, enjoying their times with one another. The gentle breeze from the wind blew over everyone's fur, and the sound of the waves eroded from the shorelines across the camp as well. However, Vulpix didn't stop running, she just kept going and going and going, until...

"I would stop right there if I were you." Rosie warned her, turning herself around to stare down Vulpix creepily.

"Give me my Eevee back! You're just brainwashing him into being your puppet! I bet you don't even truly love him don't you?" Vulpix gave her an attitude right back.

"Yeah! Just leave it alone! Go find a different Eevee to love, this ones taken by her!" Zorua backed his friend up, standing beside her the whole time.

"You come any closer, then I will smooch his lips, you understand? If I do that, then he'll love me forever, and he'll never break out of the Attract!" Rosie threatened both of them.

"How about you guys just leave us alone for once? You've been chasing us around for who knows how long now!" Eevee snapped at the two angrily.

"You wouldn't dare! Keep your dirty lips off of him, you hear me? I want him back, and you're going to give him to me! Understand me Rosie?" Vulpix demanded her.

"Pfft! Or else what? What're you going to do? Freeze me with that horrible stench of a breath you got there? I'd like to see you try." Rosie intimidated her, yawning playfully.

"Grr! You!" Vulpix growled menacingly, getting ready to shoot an icicle ball right at her.

She used a move, and shot the ice-like ball from her mouth directly at Rosie! However... Eevee quickly got in the way and deflected the ball with his own paw, destroying it in one blow!

"Your name is Rosie right? Listen... It's probably best if you just stand down and let our friend-" Zorua started talking once again, but he was already cut off!

"NO!" Rosie screamed at the top of her lungs, using Swift on him.

The starry projectile started flying towards him at the speed of light, but that was nothing he couldn't handle. He quickly jumped out of the way before the move could make contact with his body, and gave Rosie a dirty look soon afterward.

"What's your problem?" He yelled back, defending himself.

"You're not getting your friend back, and that's FINAL!" Rosie yelled at him once more.

"Ugh, she's never going to give up is she?" Vulpix whispered into Zorua's left ear.

"You said it... Guess we have no choice..." Zorua sighed heavily.

"Are you really going to be difficult like this?" Zorua asked the eon Pokémon gently.

"If you wanna keep bothering us, then that means you must be asking for a fight!" Rosie stomped angrily.

"W-What?" Vulpix suddenly felt shocked to hear that.

"What? What's wrong?" Zorua quickly turned to her, curious about her response.

"I-I can't fight him!" Vulpix pointed towards Eevee.

"Listen to me, that's not the Eevee you know, he's in there somewhere... But as of now, he's a different Pokémon... Maybe if we win, then we can get him back! Let's just double team!" He tried calming her down, and it worked!

"I... You're right! No more standing down like this, if it's a fight they want, then it's a fight they're going to get!" Vulpix announced confidently, standing proud with a smirk on her face.

"That's the spirit! Come on, let's show them how we do things!" Zorua nodded, turning back to Eevee and Rosie.

"You two look very weak, Eevee and I are going to crush you until there's nothing left!" Rosie kept on insulting them, standing beside Eevee the whole time.

"You guys just met your doom!" Eevee joined in.

The four of them exchanged looks at one another, preparing for the double battle ahead of them. It was either us or them... Two teams, with two Pokémon each!

"I'll start it off right away then, Dark Pulse!" Zorua quickly shot the Dark Type projectile directly towards Eevee.

Completely taking him off guard, Eevee wasn't ready for the attack!

"Oh no you don't! Don't you dare lay any of your filthy attacks on him! Swift!" Rosie announced the next attack.

Without hesitating, she struck the Dark Pulse with Swift, and there was a small, but quiet explosion when the two moves collided! There was smoke of course... But it was nothing too serious. They were a bit apart from the big building, so they wouldn't destroy anything.

"Ugh! Just give him! We seriously DON'T want to hurt you!" Vulpix tried negotiating with her.

"SHUT UP!" Rosie screamed at the top of her lungs, sprinting up to Vulpix as fast as she could.

"Get away from her!" Zorua quickly cut his way into her path, blocking her off!

"How about YOU get away from her!" Eevee suddenly snapped right back at him, tackling Zorua to the floor.

He cleared Zorua out of the path, and Vulpix had no idea what to do at this point! Once they were both on the ground however, Eevee opened his mouth and bit down on Zorua's neck as hard as he could!

"AH!" Zorua reacted to the attack, squirming in a shocking stinging pain!

"Zorua? NO!" Vulpix looked directly at her friend, feeling bad for him.

Before she could say or do anything else, Rosie lunged forward, and used Swift once again! Without knowing this would happen, Vulpix took the projectile directly to the face, and she was taken back so suddenly in recoil!

"O-Ow..." Vulpix fell to the ground, about to shed tears in pain!

When she looked up at Rosie, she was getting a dirty glance from her!

"What's the matter? Too painful for you to handle? It was just one simple attack to the face! Take it like a real Pokémon!" Rosie continued pressuring her, growling menacingly afterwards.

"P-Please..." Vulpix begged her not to do anything else.

"Nope..." Rosie simply just giggled in return...

She fired yet another Swift on her! But only this time, it wasn't as bad as before! Sure it stunned her, but she actually took it pretty well!

"There, see! Now you're getting it! We don't want to hurt you guys either... Just let it be!" Rosie warned her.

"NEVER!" A loud shouting voice came from behind!

Vulpix looked to see who it was, and she instantly had a huge smile on her face!

"Huh? Gah!" Rosie quickly groaned painfully after suddenly being tackled by Zorua!

He pushed her off of Vulpix, and caused her to do a couple of summersaults. Once Zorua finally got back up, he quickly turned back to Vulpix, and decided to help her back up to her feet.

"Thanks!" Vulpix happily appreciated him, then she started looking around for Eevee.

Eventually she spotted him, and he was lying down on the floor, defeated easily! That was until... Rosie got right back up again, and she wasn't happy one bit!

"Grr! YOU!" She stomped her front paw on the solid ground angrily.

"What's wrong? I beat Eevee easily, now you're next!" Zorua threatened, chuckling confidently.

Rosie took the chance to look over at Eevee, and she gasped once she noticed that he was on the floor.

"No! NO NO!" Rosie screamed out, sprinting her way to help Eevee out.

Zorua and Vulpix exchanged looks with each other, and both of them were curious.

"If you're just going to take him away from me, then I'll just have to keep him!" Rosie glared at the two Pokémon, giving them both killer looks.

"What?" Vulpix asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Don't you even think about it! He's hers, not yours! GET LOST ALREADY!" Zorua finally had enough of this.

He was still backing Vulpix up, but both of them had no idea what was about to happen next...

"True love's first kiss! If I kiss him, then he'll wake back up again, and he'll be under Attract forever! Heha!" Rosie giggled, sounding evil.

"WAIT, NO!" Vulpix started running over to push her away from Eevee.

Once she was just a few feet apart, Rosie went ahead and turned Eevee around on his backside.

"EEVEE!" Vulpix screamed out.

Rosie took the chance, and pressed her lips against his! Once they were both making contact, Eevee suddenly woke up again! And his eyes were widened in shock!

"E-Eevee!" Vulpix felt the need to cry again.

"Eevee snap out of it!" Zorua caught up to Vulpix, and tried helping her out with him.

"Mmph!" Eevee just sat there in shock, confused about everything.

"It's already... Too late... He's gonna be with her forever..." Vulpix suddenly had a crack in her voice, and she dropped her head depressingly.

Her tail was down, and everything else inside of her felt empty... She was depressed yet again. She lost Eevee, she lost him forever...

"G-Goodbye Eevee..." Vulpix cried, running away from the group.

"Vulpix wait!" Zorua tried calling her back, but she was already long gone.

He simply watched as she started getting farther and farther apart from him... She was sad, and she also left a trail of tears behind her.

"Vulpix..." Zorua sounded sad as well, figuring out that it was too late.

"G-Get! Mmmph! Off of me!" Eevee suddenly shouted out angrily.

He pushed Rosie right off, and started cleaning his lips off! Upon hearing his voice, Zorua turned back to the two, and saw Eevee. His eyes weren't heart shaped, they looked normal again!

"Eevee?" Rosie asked in surprise, thinking her plan worked anyway...

"What's wrong with you? Suddenly kissing me like that!" Eevee asked in annoyance, ready to attack her at any moment.

"Eevee!" Zorua wagged his tail happily, noticing that it was the real Eevee he knew!

"B-But it was supposed to work! How'd you break out of it!" Rosie stuttered nervously.

"I don't care what you have to say! GET LOST AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" Eevee snapped at her, surprising her even more!

She backed away from him, feeling scared all of a sudden. Then that's when it happened, Eevee was about to attack her, but she got the message. She quickly panicked, and sprinted back to the main building's doors, never to be seen any longer.

"*Sigh* Glad that's over with... She looked annoying..." Eevee sat on the ground once again, fixing himself up.

"You're back!" Zorua walked up to him, patting him on the back.

"Hey! What's up?" Eevee finally noticed him, and patted him right back!

"You have no idea what's happened ever since you got mind controlled by her..." Zorua got right into the topic.

"What... What happened? I was, asleep for such a long time. It felt like a dream, but I could hear some voices in my head... What did she do to me?" Eevee asked, wanting to know answers.

"She used Attract on you, and then tried manipulating you into falling in love with her. That way, she could never be separated from you. I guess everything worked out in a way... But then there's one thing..." Zorua had a sad tone in his voice when he finished his sentence.

"Did she really do that?" Eevee's ears dropped, feeling guilty about not breaking free from the Attract himself.

"Don't feel bad or anything, that wasn't the real you... But yeah, she did do that..." Zorua replied.

"Well, what was the other thing you were going to tell me? The one thing that was forgotten." Eevee asked the question back to him.

When he asked him that, Zorua looked up to the sky with his blue colored eyes, they looked a bit sad. He was silent for a quick moment, but then decided to tell him.

"Vulpix was, heartbroken by you..." He finally stated, looking to the ground next.

"W-What?! N-No! Nonono! I have to fix this! Was I acting rude towards her in any way?" Eevee got up to his feet instantly.

"I would help you, really I would... But my best advice for you right now is to just follow those trails of tears that she left behind... I don't really feel comfortable trying to talk with her at the moment. I'm just exhausted, and tired from all of this... Go get her Eevee." Zorua continued to lay down, not bothering to get up at all.

"You're not going to help me?" Eevee tilted his head, angrily.

"This is something you two need to talk about! I'm sure she's not far, just go ahead!" Zorua encouraged him.

"Well... Ugh, alright! I'll follow them." Eevee finally agreed to it, noticing the tears beside them.

He looked straight ahead to where they were leading off to, and sprinted as fast as he could down the trail. Hoping that he wasn't too late, the only thing that mattered now was cheering her up...

 _ **And now this...**_

"So, what now?" Melanie crossed her arms, giving James an odd look.

"What do you want me to do? Look, the only way to get him to notice you is acting presentable in front of him." James tried giving her advice, while petting Grovyle who was sitting right next to him.

"Mm, that feels good!" Grovyle was enjoying the affection, with his eyes closed at the same time.

"Like that bud?" James smiled, petting him even more.

"Yeah!" Grovyle exclaimed, happily enjoying it!

"I tried that last night, but I just get a little nervous around him... Should I ask him out or something?" Melanie asked, confused about all of this.

"No! A girl should never have to ask the guy out, it's the other way around all the time! Don't worry about it, like I said... I'm going to help you regardless. I'll get him to ask you out on a date tonight, how's that sound? I'll be there behind him, but it'll happen for sure tonight! I promise you!" James tried calming her down so that she wouldn't have to worry about it one bit!

"I appreciate it, really I do!" Melanie thanked him greatly, feeling a whole lot better.

"No problem! I got your back!" James replied.

 _ **Back to him...**_

"What? All of these... Tears are from her?" Eevee continued following the trailed tears, thinking more about her.

He was in the middle of a forested path, which was right next to the camp. There wasn't really anything else, no Pokémon, no other signs of life... It was just a weird feeling surrounding him... It was oddly quiet, and he just couldn't stop thinking about Vulpix.

"What did I actually do to her while I was hypnotized? I hope I didn't really upset her too bad... I just hope she's okay, I need to know she's okay!" Eevee felt the need to go at a much faster pace, trying to follow the trail as fast as he could.

"Why're you rushing so?" A mythical voice appeared in his mind, suddenly stopping him in his tracks.

That same eerie feeling surrounded him again, and his heartbeat was through the roof! Not knowing what was going on, he just looked around the environment, trying to figure out who was speaking to him. Then all of a sudden, a Pokémon appeared right in front of his face, happily smiling down at him!

"Whoa! W-What're you?" Eevee backed up from the small Pokémon, showing fear towards it.

"Calm down now, I'm not going to hurt thee." The Pokémon crossed it's arms, acting casually cool.

"Well, first tell me who you are!" Eevee was still backing up slowly, frightened by it suddenly jumping out at him from out of nowhere.

The Pokémon was a small, gray colored, fairy-like creature. It had two tails that each had a red jewel encrusted in them as well! It also had a partially magenta colored face with four long, drooping appendages and another red gem was encrusted in it's forehead. Other than that, it was the mythical and legendary Pokémon, Mesprit!

"I'm Mesprit! The being of emotion, I've been sensing you all day long." Mesprit giggled soon after finishing her own sentence.

Her voice was feminine, which clearly gave the impression that of a girl!

"Sensing me? How?" Eevee tilted his head, confused.

"I'm a mythical Legendary Pokémon, I have the power to sense all Pokémon's emotions, then I go and visit them to help them! And it looks like you're in a real mess from what I've sensed." Mesprit happily continued on.

"Wow, a Legendary Pokémon!" Eevee gasped in amazement.

He still couldn't believe that he was talking to a mythical creature right in front of his eyes.

"Mhm, but anyways... You're in an emotional romantic problem with an Ice Type? Am I correct?" Mesprit asked, crossing her arms innocently.

"Yeah, yeah I am... I was fallen into some attack called Attract, and then I went into a long sleep. I don't know what I did, but my girlfriend is probably upset at me... And I'm just concerned about what she'll do to me if I go up to her and ask her what's wrong. She left these trails of tears, but I'm starting to get very nervous about this..." Eevee finally told her the story, dropping his head low to the ground.

"Hey, cheer up! Don't be so down on yourself yet! Why do you think I'm here silly? I'll help you out." Mesprit tried cheering him up, but that didn't work too well on him...

"Look I appreciate the help, really I do, and I'm honored and stuff... But I just don't know if she'll ever want to be my future mate. I feel as if I did something really bad while I was hypnotized, to the point where she might never even wanna talk to me, or look at me, or-" He immediately stopped her offer, but he was cutoff by her long tails over his mouth!

"Sshh! Quiet, I for one think your false." She mumbled slightly.

"It's the truth..." Eevee continued acting negative about himself.

"Well, you really don't know until you talk to her face to face, maybe it'll help you! I can sense a strong and beautiful relationship between you and this other female... You really love her a lot, don't you?" Mesprit wondered in curiosity, wanting to hear answers from him.

"Yes! With all of my heart, but how is talking to her going to help me? What if-" Eevee snapped at her so suddenly, to the point where she slapped him across his face gently.

It stung like a pinch, but it wasn't anything too serious... It was simply just an action she wanted to do, in order to get him to stop talking.

"Stop it, look to the bright side of things okay? Look, I might not be able to help with your problem, but I can at least give you some friendly advice!" Mesprit offered him even more suggestions!

"Well, um... G-Give me advice then!" Eevee rubbed the side of his face with his paw slowly.

"First and for most! Just go up to her and talk to her... And second, be yourself and act normal! She's just up ahead, so go!" Mesprit flew behind him and started pushing him quickly down the path some more.

"W-Wait! I don't know what to say! I'm too nervous!" Eevee tried backing up with his legs, but Mesprit had more power.

"Just say it from the heart, don't worry... You got this!" Mesprit kept on pushing him until he finally made it to a small opening up ahead.

It led to a cliff side, which overlooked the sea greatly! There were no trees around the area, no Pokémon, no Trainers... It was just a beautiful sight to look at!

"There she is, that's her right? An Eevee like you is pretty lucky to have a beautiful Pokémon like her." Mesprit asked, stopping instantly.

Eevee looked off ahead, and eventually noticed Vulpix! She was just sitting alone, looking off to the ocean.

"Yeah, that's her... My future mate." Eevee sighed, looking to the ground next.

"Well get out there and win her heart back already!" Mesprit encouraged him some more, flying away into a bush as quickly as she could.

"F-Fine! *phew* Okay! You got this Eevee, just be your normal self!" Eevee started talking to himself, encouraging to go forward!

He started walking towards her, trying to be as silent as he possibly could. Once he was just barely a few feet away from her, that's when it happened... His heart was beating rapidly and he had no idea what to say either! Now he was inches apart from her... He felt the cold aura around her body, and saw more tears on the ground around her.

"Um... H-Hey!" Eevee started off the conversation with her, touching her back with his own paw.

She instantly turned around and looked straight in the eye with him. It startled him slightly, but he quickly went into his dreamy romantic mode! Just thinking about her beautiful face!

"EEVEE! YOU'RE BACK!" She instantly tackled him down to the floor, giggling like a little girl would!

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy!" Eevee fell down, laughing with her.

She took the opportunity to kiss him straight on the lips! When she made contact with him, his eyes grew wide in shock! He never experienced THIS kind of romance before with her... Neither did she! They were locked with each other for a good minute or so, until one of them decided to break out of the kiss for a breath of fresh air. It was their first kiss! A romantic one if that!

"I can't believed you're back! I thought I lost you forever to that girl." Vulpix wrapped her paws around his neck, snuggling against his soft warm fur.

"Yeah, I had no idea what happened... I'm really sorry about what I did to you while I was... Well, you know." He started rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, feeling bad about everything he's done to her.

She saw the sadness in his eyes, as if he were about to cry. She quickly kissed him on the cheek next, and then started talking to him in that sweet voice of hers!

"Don't worry about it hun, that wasn't the real you... You were under Attract, and I didn't know any better. I spent the whole day going after the Pokémon that did it to you. And it looks like you finally broke out of it!" She smiled widely, feeling a lot better than earlier!

"*Phew* Good thing you forgave me then! I'm glad I'm back, I won't let anything like that happen to us ever again. I promise, I'll be more careful next time, and I'll try to resist it!" Eevee crossed his heart, looking proud and confidently.

"Awh, at least someone's keeping a promise!" Vulpix rested her head on the crook of his neck.

They were finally happy with each other, Eevee came back to himself, and Vulpix quickly came back to him, realizing it herself! That was when Eevee looked off to the side of the bushes, he noticed Mesprit peeking her head out just a bit! She winked at him and started giggling like a child.

"Good, looks like my work here is done!" She whispered, just enough for him to hear.

She went back into the bushes, and flew off to who knows where...

 _ **However... There was an odd presence... Watching over the two... And it wasn't a good presence either... Somewhere hidden in another bush, there was a certain Pokémon spying on the couple.**_

 _ **"She's not going to win his heart... I don't care if they're dating or not! He's MY mate, not yours! *Grr...*" Rosie growled while staring at the two in the far distance...**_

 _ **She wasn't going to let them get away with this...**_


	18. Ch 18, Greetings Arriving!

_**Ch. 18, Greetings Arriving!**_

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

 _ **Play Song: (Ten Carat Hill - Pok**_ ** _émon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=eGNDmnGSjc4)_**

"I'm really glad you're back though, did you notice the view in front of us?" Vulpix started off, still snuggling her head against Eevee's neck.

Finally noticing the water ahead of them, Eevee admired the view greatly! It was peaceful, and enjoyable to be with her at the same time. He was glad that he was back to normal, and so was she. Apart from that, it somehow made them grow closer together as a couple!

"It's beautiful, but not as beautiful as you, like always!" Eevee chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

The same old adorable blush formed on both of their faces, and Vulpix took the chance to wrap her paws around his neck, kissing him straight on the lips passionately. It took him by surprise, of course... But he still enjoyed doing it with her!

"Awh, that's sweet!" She broke away from the kiss, tackling him to the ground gently.

"I try to be... Anyways, is there anything else you wanted to tell me? About myself?" He tilted his head, curious about how he acted.

"Nope, you were pretty much just a jerk, that's all!" She blinked innocently, making him feel bad...

"Okay when I hear you say that, you're just making me feel worse!" He complained, dropping his ears to show his emotion.

"That's the point silly! But don't worry too much about it. *giggle* I'll still love you no matter what happens, just as long as it's you. *pause* This IS you, right?" She leaned closer to him, widening her eyes.

"Yeah! Of course it's me, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting right here next to you." He laughed nervously, pulling her back to him.

"Good to know! Now what're we sitting here for anyway? Let's take a swim! I got an idea!" She grabbed his paw with her own, dragging him closer to the shore.

By the time they got down to the water, Eevee stared off into the distance, while also thinking about what she had in store for them both. He watched as she released her paw, and she finally got closer to the water.

"Watch this!" Vulpix giggled, opening her mouth.

She took a deep breath, and let it all out! When she did that, there was a huge cloud forming just above the body of water. The cloud started growing larger and larger, until it looked as big as a skyscraper!

"Um, Vulpix?" Eevee backed away from her, worried about this.

"What?" She asked, still sounding adorable as ever.

"It's just, that cloud is pretty huge! Are you trying to make it rain or something?" He asked.

"Nope, I was playing with these small clouds that I made earlier, and I discovered something amazing! I don't know what it's called, but I guess it's called snow according to the other Trainers... Just wait and see!" She looked up into the cloud.

The cloud covered the shore, and it instantly started snowing gently! The beautiful snowflakes were falling down, until they started making contact with the water! Eevee gasped in shock, never seeing it before! A snowflake landed on his muzzle, and he felt the cold chill from it shortly after it melted away!

"Pretty nice huh? I couldn't believe I had the power to summon these huge clouds! I can control the amount of snow that falls from them too!" Vulpix giggled some more.

She did a weird pattern with her paws, and the clouds started reacting to her own movements! What took them both by surprise, was what the cloud did when she was finished...

"WHOOOSH!" The cloud roared like a maniac!

All of a sudden, there was a blizzard falling down right on top of them! It didn't even look like spring anymore! It was a loud huge cloud, and there was snow everywhere in a matter of moments! Vulpix panicked from the sounds, and ran straight towards Eevee, grabbing onto him!

"JEEZ! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Eevee panicked, grabbing onto her in return.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Vulpix screamed.

"I-AH!" Eevee was blown away from the force, a couple of somersaults away from her.

She closed her eyes, feeling the snow covering over her vision. It was chaotic, and it was horrible!

"NO! DISAPPEAR! GO AWAY!" She tried shooing it off, but that's when it all happened...

"THUD!" Something fell right on top of her, colliding against her head.

It was a huge icy rock, that appeared out of nowhere! She reacted to the debris, covering her head in total pain! She was shocked from the attack, and she didn't feel any better either...

"N-No! Guh..." She fell to the ground, and tried opening her eyes once more.

It was instantly sunny, and the cloud went away real quick! She tried looking around for any signs of Eevee, but there were none... There were huge piles of snow everywhere, and then her vision started blackening out slowly.

"E-Eevee..." She breathed heavily, finally closing her eyes from the painful shock she received.

She finally blacked out, passing out from exhaustion! That was when she heard a voice in her own mind, speaking out to her!

"Looks like all those tests we did on her, really worked huh chief?"

"Hehehe, you're right Mark, this one here is a beauty when it comes to power!" A familiar voice replied back.

 _ **Then, everything went to darkness...**_

 _ **Now...**_

"What was that loud sound?" Zorua instantly got up from the grassy grounds outside, sitting next to Buneary.

His ears jerked straight up, and he sensed the sounds quickly. There was a cold chill in the air, and he looked around to see where it was coming from. Upon sight, he saw a fluffy white cloud, that was too close to the ground, just above a small scenic forest near the camp.

"*Brr* W-Why is it chilly all of a sudden?" Buneary asked, hugging herself, taken by surprise from the cold air.

"Not sure, winter's either coming up close, or it's probably some random cloud..." Zorua looked towards the cloud, feeling a little cold.

That's when a small snowflake landed on the ground just in front of them. It melted instantly of course, but it wasn't right to belong there in the first place.

"Should we check it out?" The bunny sat up, sounding a bit brave.

"Yeah, it's probably Vulpix or something... I'm hoping it isn't though, maybe she's mad at Eevee?" Zorua joined her, heading straight down the path.

The two of them followed the path down, hoping that there wasn't anything serious going on.

 _ **Back to her...**_

"Uhh... *groan*" She was starting to come back to her senses.

She raised her head off of the snowy ground, opening her diamond glistening colored eyes once more. It was Vulpix, and she had no idea what happened...

"W-Wha..." She finally came back to reality, and realized what had happened!

"No! This was all from me?" Vulpix got up from the ground, looking around the environment.

The entire forest was snowy, it looked like winter, and the water on the shore was frozen solid with a sheet of ice across it! She didn't know whether or not she was in the same place, or if she got separated from Eevee. Now that she thought about it more, she remembered Eevee getting blown away!

"What did you do?" A familiar voice appeared right behind her!

She turned around and saw him! An Eevee appeared in her face!

"Eevee! Are you okay?" She ran up to him, wrapping him into a hug.

"H-Huh?" The Eevee spoke out, except, only this time... it's voice sounded much different than before, it sounded like a girl!

"What?" Realizing her mistake, Vulpix backed away from the Pokémon, feeling embarrassed that she thought it was him.

"What're you doin? Hugging me and stuff like that?" The Eon Pokémon asked, sounding rude towards her.

"What do you mean? It was an accident! I thought you were someone else... *gasp* No! It can't be you!" Vulpix remembered that girly voice, looking at the Eevee.

The fur on the Eevee was neatly groomed, and she also noticed a nearby flower rose hair clip on the ground beside the Eevee's left front paw.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Vulpix screamed at the top of her lungs, making the Eevee take a few steps back.

"Pfft... AS IF YOU CARE! I'M HERE FOR MY MATE!" The Eevee looked around, until it finally noticed the clip on the ground.

Using it's paw, the Eevee picked up the clip, and put it right onto it's ear! Obviously realizing who this Pokémon's name was, it was Rosie!

"LEAVE NOW!" Vulpix screamed in rage, trying to scare her off.

"No, I'm not leaving... Period..." Rosie stood on her ground, stomping at her in return.

"If you don't leave, then I'm gonna blast you away! Until you're completely frozen in a block of ice!" Vulpix threatened her, hoping it'd work.

Unfortunately it didn't, Rosie quickly used Swift on her, taking her by surprise! From the attack, Vulpix didn't expect it to come at her so hard, so she didn't get the chance to brace herself!

"Hah!" Rosie yelled furiously, tackling Vulpix to the snowy ground.

Opening her jaws, her teeth quickly grew larger until they were razor blade sharp! She closed them onto Vulpix's neck, making sure that she could feel the painful attack!

"AHH! *Screams in agony!* You dirty little-" Vulpix rolled over, so that Rosie could fall off.

Once she did that, Vulpix flipped back, giving herself enough room. Now that she had the chance to do so, she opened her mouth and fired an Aurora Beam! Once the beam of light fired at Rosie, she didn't react to it! In fact, the move only stunned her, it didn't really hurt at all...

"What?!" Vulpix tilted her head, wondering why the move didn't hurt her opponent.

"That move doesn't really hurt, just so you know! You're never going to beat me!" Rosie laughed like a maniac, feeling a burst of confident energy hitting her.

"Icy Wind!" Vulpix announced, blowing a huge gust of cold air.

The cold air reached Rosie fast, surrounding her entire body! Once that happened, Vulpix noticed Rosie shaking in fear.

"S-S-So c-c-cold! *shivers*" Rosie panicked, trying to free herself from the wind.

She was shivering, and her teeth were chattering, it felt extremely cold!

With nothing else to do, Vulpix quickly jumped up high into the air, trying to go for another attack.

"Swift!" Rosie announced her next attack, using her tail to fire the stars!

Vulpix expected this to happen, so she used Ice Shard! All of a sudden, large shards of ice came from out of nowhere! And they started firing down on Rosie like missiles! Unfortunately, Vulpix was struck by the Swift, and she took it critically. She fell down below to the ground, but she landed on a hard rock, impacting it with her back! Just then, the shards surrounded Rosie, until she was trapped in between them! It looked like a little jail cell, and she couldn't get out of it either!

"Ow... That actually hurt... The one thing the most..." Vulpix grunted painfully, trying to get back up.

She looked around, until she eventually spotted a pile of snow moving slightly. It revealed another Eevee once the snow melted away!

"Eevee!" Vulpix ignored the pain, quickly rushing over to him.

"U-Uh..." Eevee rubbed his head gently, trying to wake back up.

He spotted the love of his life, looking at him in worry.

"Eevee! Are you okay!?" Vulpix knelt down, putting a paw over his.

"Y-Yeah... *pause* If I'm looking at the most beautiful thing in the world... I couldn't be any better!" He regained his energy, and flirted around with her.

Vulpix simply blushed, wrapping him into a soft and warm full hug!

"Oh stop it, I practically almost killed you..." Vulpix admitted, feeling embarrassed.

"Nono! It was actually pretty cool! And look, you even managed to freeze the water!" Eevee quickly got up, still holding onto her paw.

She didn't know what to say, she was awestruck! He led her down to the frozen water, trying to think of something to do next.

"You mean, you forgive me still? I... Didn't mean to-" Vulpix spoke softly, until he pulled her into a deep romantic kiss!

"Mph!" Eevee broke apart after a couple of seconds, making sure she got the message.

"Uh..." Vulpix blushed even harder, her cheeks were flaming red!

"Don't worry about it! I know you didn't mean to, I'm perfectly fine! No harm done!" He let that sink in, giving her the message.

"O-Oh!" Vulpix nodded slightly, understanding it clearly.

"Now come on! Let's go have some fun!" Eevee smiled, walking onto the sheet of ice.

He let go of her, and started sliding across the water! He was ice skating on his paws! And he actually found it entertaining! He slipped at first, but then he started getting used to it!

"Whoa hehe! Hey Vulpix, you should try this out!" He stopped himself carefully, and turned around to face her.

She took a few steps closer to the water, but she felt a little nervous about it. Would she break her neck? A bone in her body perhaps? No one would truly know until she tried it out...

"Um... Isn't it, slippery? What if I fall or something, and end up twisting my leg or worse!" She complained about it, groaning in response.

"I'm here for you, don't worry! Besides, this stuff is your home! I'm sure you can do this easily! Instead of walking, just slip and slide on it with your paws!" He tried demonstrating it for her, sliding across the ice.

She was unsure at this moment, and it didn't make her feel any better either. Without hesitation, she finally took a step onto the ice and decided to join her future mate.

"There! See! You got it!" He encouraged her, smiling happily while wagging his tail.

"I think- WAHP!" She got a little carried away, and took a huge step forward to him.

She ended up slipping over the ice, and face planted directly onto the ground... Eevee on the other hand, tried holding it in, but he couldn't! It was just too funny to resist! With seconds flying by, he let it out and started laughing uncontrollably at her! Hearing his laugh only made it worse... She quickly lifted her face up off of the ground, and gave him a killer look. The baby blue color in her eyes faded to a darker color, and you could tell she was angry! She growled at him, and got up as fast as she could!

"Um... V-Vulpix?" Eevee tried backing away, dropping his ears in return to her response.

But at that very moment... He knew he was done for... He braced himself, waiting for her wrath to come upon him!

"LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!" She screamed in rage, pushing him down to the icy ground.

Upon contact, Eevee couldn't help himself anymore, he hit the ground, but he continued laughing at her. She noticed this, and simply rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" She replied, sitting on the floor beside him.

"What? No way, I'm not a jerk..." Eevee sighed, dropping his ears.

"Shut up..." She crossed her two front paws, acting almost like a human would.

"Hm... Time for Plan B." Eevee grinned happily, moving over in front of her.

He gave her his puppy dog eyes, trying to act adorable.

"That doesn't work on me..." She simply sighed, rolling her eyes next.

"Don't you love me?" He asked, dropping his ears.

Sighing in defeat, she nodded slightly... But it was enough to make him happy again!

"Y-Yes... I do love you..." She blushed cutely like she always did, wrapping him into a warm hug.

However, their hug was suddenly interrupted, when a loud cry came their way!

"HEY!" The voice called.

They both let go of each other and turned around, noticing Zorua and Buneary in the distance!

"Huh?" Both of the two lovebirds exchanged looks, then back to the other two.

"You guys alright?" Buneary asked kindly, stepping closer to the ice.

Both Vulpix and Eevee skated their way back to the shore, stopping right in front of them.

"Yeah, we're fine." Vulpix smiled, wagging her tail.

"We're just having a bit of fun, that's all!" Eevee laughed nervously.

"Did you cause all of this mess?" Zorua looked at Vulpix, obviously noticing the snow around them.

"Well who else would've did it?" Vulpix giggled nervously, sounding innocent.

"You caused this big mess? Who's gonna clean it all up now..." Buneary wondered.

"Yeah, we saw the huge snow cloud you made up there... We just wanted to see if you guys were alright, but we didn't know if it was you exactly." Zorua spoke softly.

"HELLO?!" A very familiar voice came next, sending a warm shiver down Vulpix's back.

Everyone turned to see where the voice came from, and they realized that it was Rosie! She was simply just standing there, looking wet! Her fur was a big mess from being frozen!

"You could've killed me... *pant*" Rosie couldn't catch her breath, looking extremely tired.

"As if! You're trying to take him away from me!" Vulpix stood beside Eevee, setting her foot down.

"M-Me? That's a lie! Honey, you've got to believe me!" Rosie walked up even closer to them, but she was stopped by Zorua and Buneary.

"You step any closer, then I'll blast you back with a Dark Pulse! I'm sure you don't want that, now don't you?" Zorua growled, showing his sharp front teeth.

"Yeah! And just admit that you're the evil one here! You brainwashed him!" Buneary was looking ready to pounce her at any moment!

"FREEZE!" Vulpix suddenly snapped at her, jumping ahead in front of the group.

Before Rosie could act, Vulpix blew a cold gust of wind towards her, and it instantly froze her into a solid block of ice!

"Heh! Easy..." Vulpix smiled, closing her eyes peacefully.

"Alright, let's head back..." Eevee continued on walking beside her, acting as if it never happened!

"You sure the snow will melt by the time we get back?" Zorua asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah, I think it will... Would be nice if we had a Fire Type though, just to be safe." Vulpix glared at him.

"Eh, it'll melt... First things first is that we gotta introduce Buneary here to Melanie!" Zorua smirked at the bunny, causing her to blush lightly.

Vulpix and Eevee wrapped each other's paws around the other, and they continued on back!

 _ **Momentarily...**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

"Anyways... I'm actually getting a little bored..." James started off, playing with a Pokéball.

Melanie turned towards him and was curious about who was inside the ball.

"So, who's in there?" She asked, trying not to get bored.

"It's Grovyle... Say! That reminds me! It's pretty much dinner time at this point! Are you cooking for us tonight?" He sounded excited for an answer, hoping she would cook for them.

"No... I'm not cooking tonight! You can cook for yourself!" She groaned annoyingly, crossing her arms and showing her bratty side.

"Ugh... I was hoping you'd cook! Your food is way better than mine!" He tried begging her for it, but it still didn't work.

"We could always get Alex to cook, but he's too busy talking to those girls... Plus I don't think he'd make a good chef." Melanie giggled after thinking more about him.

"Guess that jealousy won't be coming in then? You gonna propose to him tonight?" James teased her, elbowing her lightly.

"W-What? Propose! You're crazy! Y-You know we're a little too young for that!" She blushed heavily, feeling embarrassed.

"Zor!" A voice called to them, and it sounded very friendly too!

James and Melanie turned around to see where it came from, and they felt something nudging against their feet. It was no one other than Zorua himself, along with Eevee, Vulpix, and Buneary!

"Zorua! You're back!" James smiled, bending down to scoop the Dark Type up into his arms.

Zorua gladly laid in them, licking his Trainer on the face lovingly! Melanie laughed at the two of them being together, and she bent down to pick up Vulpix. Upon contact, Vulpix giggled adorably and did the same to her!

"You guys weren't lost or anything right?" Melanie asked them all, hoping there was no trouble.

"Ee-bwa!" Eevee shook his head in response, making sure she could understand him.

"Good, we're glad you guys didn't get hurt or anything! Otherwise that would be bad..." James continued to grin, rubbing Zorua's red fluff happily.

"Zoru-Zorua!" Zorua pointed his paw towards Buneary, who was standing awkwardly, acting shy.

Melanie and James looked down at the Normal Type, and noticed the bunny playing with the fluff on her waist.

"Awh, who's this?" Melanie wondered, setting Vulpix over her shoulder.

"Bun bun!" Buneary happily waved towards her, trying to be as friendly as possible!

She was still holding onto her fluff, covering her face as well, she was clearly giving away the signs of being shy.

"Zor?" Zorua tilted his head casually, then he jumped to the ground from James' arms, landing perfectly with ease!

After that, he nudged Buneary with his own head, and he tried encouraging her to be friendly towards Melanie.

"Bu?" Buneary soon looked at him, then she lowered the fluff back down, trying to build up her own confidence.

Melanie noticed the Normal Type blushing furiously, and she was still playing with the fluff on her waist.

"What's wrong with her?" Melanie asked them all, trying to get an answer.

"If only we could understand them... Then it would make it much easier for us to communicate... But in this case, try showing the Buneary a Pokéball, maybe that'll help?" James tried suggesting answers, so Melanie agreed to it.

She took out a Pokéball from her bag, and held it out towards Buneary, seeing if she wanted to join her team.

"Bun?" Buneary clasped her mouth with one of her paws, sounding shocked and surpsised.

"Ra, Zorua!" Zorua jumped up in glee, wagging his tail joyfully.

"You wanna join us right? Is that what you're asking?" Melanie sounded very friendly towards her, holding it out even more.

"BUNEARY!" Buneary nodded her head furiously, and Melanie couldn't help but laugh at the Pokémon!

All Melanie did was simply smile down at it, examining the bunny for a while longer. Once she was done with that, Melanie nodded in agreement to her joining them!

"Alright! Here you go!" Melanie grinned happily, opening the Pokéball.

The bright red stream of light sucked Buneary right into it, and Zorua wagged his tail even more! The ball shook once, then twice, and then finally... It stopped moving! Melanie caught Buneary!

"Zo!" Zorua did a quick flip into the air, chuckling to himself.

"Someone's definitely happy." James stared directly at the Dark Type, laughing from his reaction.

Melanie went ahead and opened the device once more, revealing Buneary again! As soon as she appeared fully, Zorua couldn't help himself any longer. He was happy that she was their new friend! Everyone was happy to accept her as their new teammate! That was until... Eevee and Vulpix were having their little moment with one another!

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language)**_

 _ **Play Song: (Champion Cynthia - Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Music Extended:**_ ** _watch?v=nc0At5MXUoM)_**

"You know, after that fight with Rosie..." Eevee started off, holding Vulpix's paw.

"She should be fine, don't worry." Vulpix replied back, trying to get his mind off of her.

"You think she'll melt in time? If her Trainer finds out that you did it, she's going to have a fit!" Eevee was concerned for her.

"She'll melt in like an hour or so... It is pretty warm outside, not that that's normal for me or anything... But it feels nicer than cold temperatures." She explained, laying down on the tiled floor beside him.

He started wagging his tail before joining her, still holding her paw in his.

"Is the temperature outside fine for your species?" He wondered, curious about her.

"Well... I wouldn't think it'd be fine... But I'm willing to be in it. Although since I'm an Ice Type, I think I should be living in a frozen place. But... As long as I'm with you, I'm happy no matter what!" She spoke softly, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

He chuckled back, returning the gesture, causing her to blush lightly. The two of them were inseparable, nothing could ruin the relationship they had. That was until... Their moment was quickly ended when a loud scream echoed towards their way!

"HEY!" A girly voice screamed, startling the two.

The couple looked back towards the entrance of the room, and they saw Rosie! Boy, was she furious!

"R-Rosie?" Vulpix asked in shock, wondering how she was able to break through the ice.

"Yeah it's me! You froze me in a block of I-Ice!" Rosie limped to her, shivering a tad bit.

"How'd you break through the ice? I JUST froze you!" Vulpix was in a battle stance, ready to attack her.

"Yeah! You also left me with this!" Rosie turned around so that they could see her side.

Vulpix and Eevee noticed that her back left paw, was frozen completely in a small block of ice!

"No wonder she was limping..." Eevee whispered into Vulpix's ear.

"Anyways! I'm here for my rightful mate! He doesn't deserve to be with someone like you! Someone who has destructive powers! Your ice moves are beyond dangerous! You froze that entire section of the forest up!" Rosie kept on screaming at them, causing a scene!

Trainers nearby, along with Zorua and Buneary were watching the drama unfold. They had no idea what to do but watch...

"Yeah? You're the one coming here and trying to steal him! You brainwashed him! That's a monstrous thing to do to someone!" Vulpix stood her ground, growling at her.

"Guys?" Zorua walked into the scene, trying to stop their fight.

"She's right... You DID take control of me." Eevee nodded in agreement, backing his lover up.

"Me? A monster? Pfft... Please! Not only did you freeze that forest up, but you also ruined homes for some Pokémon too! You're even MORE of a monster than I am!" Rosie rolled her eyes, adjusting the rose on her ear.

"Grr... STAY AWAY FROM US THEN! AURORA BEAM!" Vulpix screamed out, launching the attack from her mouth.

Everyone backed away from her, all except for Eevee. Buneary eventually made it to them, but she stood behind Zorua, cowering in fear.

"Swift!" Rosie yelled back, jumping up into the air and doing a flip.

She swung her tail around, causing tons of stars to shoot down at Vulpix! When she came back to the ground, she easily dodged the attack, and so did Vulpix! The two of them regained themselves, staring each other down intensely. As the battle was commencing between them, everyone stood away, thinking it was just a friendly spar or something... All except for their friends, Zorua, Buneary, as well as Eevee... Their own Trainers didn't seem to notice, as they were too busy doing other things around the room.

"You're not all that bad at battling..." Rosie complimented her, chuckling silently.

Vulpix rolled her eyes in return, refusing to listen to her, all she was focused on was beating her in this battle. She opened her mouth once more, firing a few Icy Shards at her!

"Hmph... That won't work on me!" Rosie laughed, jumping up as the shards were hurdled at her.

As each of the shards came one by one, Rosie happily jumped around on top of the shards, doing poses as she glided in the air! She did a quick spun, as Trainers and other Pokémon stared in awe! Before she landed back to the ground, she looked back between Zorua and Eevee, giving them both an evil smirk. She spun her own body in the air, and a series of hearts came flying out!

"What's that?" Vulpix asked, wondering what the move was.

"As if you haven't seen it already... It's Charm!" Rosie smiled, landing to the ground with ease.

As the series of hearts were surrounding the area, she also used Attract, and summoned even more hearts! As the hearts were floating all together, she jumped at each of them, launching them towards Eevee and Zorua! Without thinking... The two of them were struck by the hearts almost instantly!

"Gah!" The two of them were knocked out for a bit, feeling mixed emotions inside of them.

Vulpix turned around to stare at them both, and Buneary gasped in shock... As the two males got back up, their eyes were shaped as hearts!

"Hehe! Looks like it worked! Come here boys!" Rosie called them fourth, standing proudly.

As soon as she told them what to do, the two of them sprinted over towards her, standing beside her!

"No!" Vulpix screamed, watching as her lover was quickly turned over to the enemy's side!

"Now it's three against one, you give up yet? Or are you going to freeze us all into a block of ice! If he's even your mate... I'm sure you wouldn't mind this now would ya?" Rosie smiled, pecking Eevee with a quick smooch.

When she made contact, Eevee chuckled in return to the gesture, ready to attack Vulpix at any given moment. Zorua on the other hand had a dark aura surround him, he was growling and showing his teeth towards Vulpix, as if he'd hunt her down for food!

"H-How dare you!?" Vulpix screamed, feeling the need to tear up again.

"Vulpix don't listen to them... They're under her Attract, as well as Charm... That's not the real them!" Buneary hopped right in, joining Vulpix.

"Three against two? We still have an advantage!" Rosie continued giggling like a maniac, showing her teeth as well.

Rosie eventually noticed Buneary, and examined her a while longer, fully remembering her...

"Y-You're here?" She asked in shock, giving Buneary a killer look.

"As if you care..." Buneary growled back, crossing her arms in return.

The three of them together looked quite menacing to the other duo, Buneary remembered Rosie as well, both of them never got along together...

"Y-You're right..." Vulpix shook her thoughts away, but she couldn't attack Eevee... There was no way she could...

Even making a new friend... Buneary didn't want to hurt Zorua, but it was the only way to snap them out of it!

"What sorta moves do you know? You got a plan?" Vulpix whispered over to Buneary, trying to think of something.

"Jump Kick, Ice Punch, Attract, and Water Pulse, I have quite the selection don't I?" Buneary smiled joyfully, cracking her paws casually.

"Nice! An Ice and a Water move!" Vulpix replied.

"Yeah, I'll support you out there, just don't let them bother you! Just wake them up!" Buneary calmed her down, making Vulpix very relieved.

"What're you two blabbering on about! GRAH!" Rosie sprinted towards Vulpix at the speed of light!

From the sudden speed, Vulpix wasn't able to react! She was pounced by Rosie, looking ready to bite down on her neck! Just before she could attack, Buneary's paw glowed icy, and then she swung it at Rosie's side, sending her flying into a table leg!

"Ah!" Rosie reacted in pain, feeling the icy cold punch!

She looked back to her paw, and the ice grew even more bigger than before!

"O-Ow..." Rosie let out a small tear, holding her paw in total misery.

Vulpix walked up to her, and watched as she was lying on the ground, hopeless.

"Guess we win? You gonna stop this?" Vulpix demanded, stomping her front paw to the ground.

"N-No! He's..." Rosie desperately tried to get back up.

"He's mine... Look, as much as I hate you for breaking my heart earlier... I'm not a monster, I'm not gonna finish you like one." Vulpix sighed, thinking she finally learned her lesson.

"Yeah, you gotta stop doing that to other Pokémon! Just find another Eevee for yourself." Buneary hopped right over, joining both of them.

"I'm not giving up! You'll get it soon!" Rosie continued smiling, eventually getting up.

She swung her tail once again, and threw several stars at the two of them! Buneary easily hopped out of the way, but Vulpix countered the attack with her Aurora Beam again! When Rosie saw this coming, she lifted her icy paw, making sure it'd hit! As soon as the icy projectile landed on the ice, Rosie felt her paw start to numb a bit. Then, she went ahead and slammed her paw down towards the floor, shattering the ice fully!

"Ha! I'm free now!" Rosie smiled, stretching her paws.

"W-What!" Vulpix gasped in surprise, but then it happened...

She was suddenly tackled to the ground, without even knowing who it was!

"Vulpix!" Buneary yelled, but she too was pounced right after!

"Heheha!" Rosie laughed evilly, seeing her two companions.

Zorua and Eevee pounced them both, holding them to the floor as hard as they could.

"Hehehe..." Eevee chuckled, growling at Vulpix.

Vulpix was heartbroken, not because of it being him, but the fact that he attacked her... She just, never thought it'd happen...

"E-Eevee!" Vulpix tried to free herself, but Eevee was way stronger in their position.

Buneary tried desperately as well, but Zorua was on top of her. The Trainers around them all didn't seem to care, but some of them found it quite entertaining. For them, it just looked like a friendly spar between the group... But they were totally wrong! This was something much different, almost like a war!

"Now you're both trapped... Whatcha guys gonna do now?" Rosie walked over to them, speaking confidently.

"If I was free, *Gr* I'd freeze you in a block of ice entirely!" Vulpix growled, struggling to get free.

"Not like that..." Rosie chuckled, fixing her self just above her.

She looked at Eevee, and he looked back to her. The two of them nodded their heads together, as Vulpix gulped in fear. Then, Rosie took her front paw, and grew long sharp claws from it! The claws looked extra sharp, and they were neatly groomed too.

"You won't be able to freeze me... Not anymore... Not again..." Rosie stopped smiling, and she gave Vulpix a drastic killer look.

"W-What're you going to do?" Vulpix was a little bit scared, worried for herself.

"I'm gonna carve those eyes out, that's what I'm gonna do! And when I'm done, you won't be able to see anymore! Hahaha!" Rosie laughed like an evil villain!

"You can't!" Buneary yelled, still struggling.

"Stay down!" Zorua yelled, covering her mouth with his own paw.

"This won't hurt a bit..." Rosie calmly whispered into Vulpix's ear, bringing her claws closer to her eyes.

"N-No! Please!" Vulpix turned her head away, but Eevee forced her to look back into Rosie.

"I'll make it one quick slash... I'm sure it'll blind you for all eternity!" Rosie's claws were inches away from her eyes.

"E-E-Eevee! Wake up! Please! EEVEE!" Vulpix screamed out her lover's name, hoping it'd get to him.

As soon as his name was heard... She saw him starting to shake uncontrollably... Then, she saw him shaking his head back and fourth! He started blinking his eyes until they finally returned to normal! Realizing what had happened, he saw Rosie with her claws, and he also saw himself on top of Vulpix.

"H-Hey!" Eevee screamed out, pushing Rosie out of the way with all of his strength!

Rosie flew back from the sudden jerk of force, looking at him in complete shock!

"H-How did you break out of it!?" Rosie wondered, feeling enraged on the inside.

"You okay?" Eevee ignored her, helping Vulpix from the floor.

"I am now..." Vulpix blushed, finally happy that he was back!

"So that's what it feels like." Eevee smiled, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm just glad you're back." Vulpix rolled her eyes, returning the gesture.

"I WILL NOT BE IGNOOORED!" Rosie sprinted at the couple, ready to attack them with her claws!

She aimed directly at Vulpix, and she was in a much better position! She swiped her claws at her, but Vulpix jumped back a bit, doing flips to evade her series of swipes! That was until... She landed into the wall, with nowhere else to go! Before Rosie could pounce yet again! Eevee ran by and bit her by the tail!

"A-AH!" Rosie retaliated in shock, turning her head around to face him.

Eevee eventually let go of her tail, frowning at her.

"YOU DIRTY LITTLE!" Rosie shrieked, pouncing him to the ground.

"Gah!" Eevee was taken back by surprise, unable to react!

"No!" Vulpix screamed in worry, trying to save him with another Aurora Beam.

But... Rosie used her claw, and deflected the move right back with ease!

"Looks like your lover couldn't save you! Now you WILL obey my command!" Rosie announced, threatening him with her claw.

"Never!" Eevee tried breaking free, but he lowered his head once her claw was mere centimeters apart from his eye.

"Well... It'll suck that I'll have a mate with a single eye..." Rosie frowned, letting out a deep sigh.

Before she could scratch his eye, someone came into the scene!

"HEEYAH!" Buneary suddenly appeared out of nowhere, punching her right off of Eevee!

When her punch landed a direct hit across her face, Rosie was knocked out cold! She went right to sleep, she blacked out!

"*Phew* Buneary sighed in relief, knowing that they won.

"Is it done?" Vulpix asked, regaining herself and joining her friends.

"L-Looks like it... Jeez... That DOES feel weird..." Zorua appeared right behind Buneary, limping slightly.

"I'm sorry about the, you know... Punch and all... But I needed to wake you up." Buneary apologized, feeling embarrassed.

"Hey, you had to do it... No biggie!" Zorua smiled, nodding his head at her.

"Thanks Buneary... You saved my eye!" Eevee laughed nervously, making his way over to Vulpix.

"Don't sweat it." Buneary replied, sounding cool.

"So, now what?" Vulpix asked them, stepping closer to Rosie's cold body.

She was definitely breathing, but that punch really got her! Some Trainers started looking away, as they knew that the battle was over. But for some reason none of them seemed to care. They were all too busy talking to each other. That was until... Rosie woke back up.

"Mm..." Rosie's eyes started twitching, until she fully opened them.

She looked around to see where she was at, and she also noticed Vulpix right beside her.

"Hey, you good?" Vulpix wondered, offering a paw to help her up.

"I-I don't need your help!" Rosie smacked her paw away, and got up on her own.

"You don't have to be so rude about it!" Vulpix yelled out loud, causing another dramatic scene.

"Yeah? YAH!" Rosie pounced her to the floor at the speed of light!

Vulpix was taken by surprise, until she noticed Rosie growing her claw once again! Before she could do anything though, Vulpix rolled her body, so that she was on top of Rosie this time! When Rosie was on the bottom, Vulpix blew some wind out of her mouth, and started freezing her entire body slowly!

"A-AAAHH! S-STOP IT!" Rosie tried breaking free from the cold, but it was too much.

Vulpix's freezing cold breath was excruciating! Rosie felt herself numb, as her legs froze, then her chest... And then eventually... Her whole face!

"Vulpix!" Eevee called, trying to stop her from killing Rosie!

"What!?" Vulpix yelled back, refusing to stop.

"You can't just leave her in a block of ice like you did last time! Look I know you're mad, I'm mad at her too... But that'll also kill her!" Eevee didn't want Vulpix to become a monster, but what could he do?

Vulpix eventually listened to him, and stopped freezing Rosie. By the time she actually stopped though, Rosie was in a block of ice, looking freezing on the inside!

"She deserved it..." Vulpix sighed, walking back over to Eevee.

They were all calm... Until a certain Trainer ran over to them...

"R-Rosie!?" A familiar voice was heard, and it was running too!

As they all looked up to see who it was, they watched as Jessica sprinted over to her Eevee. She quickly picked up Rosie, who was still in a block of ice! Other Trainers noticed this too, and they began getting concerned for the Pokémon's health. She looked around in worry, until she looked down to see Vulpix!

"MELANIIEEE!" Jessica screamed at the top of her lungs, when Alex heard her, he ran over to see what happened.

"Jessica? What's wrong?" He quickly responded, obviously knowing by the tone of her voice.

"Where's your friend at? Look what her Vulpix DID to my Pokémon!" Jessica was mad, giving Vulpix a cold dead glare.

She was about to yell out Melanie's name again, until she was already there by the scene.

"What? What happened?" Melanie wondered, curious about why her name was called.

"Your Pokémon there FROZE my Eevee into this block of ice! Get her out of here this instant!" Jessica demanded, showing her Rosie.

Melanie gasped at the sight of her Pokémon, she needed to get out of that block and fast!

"Vulpix? Why'd you do this?" Melanie looked down at Vulpix, frowning at her.

"I-I didn't mean... It's not what it looks like!" Vulpix felt the need to cry, never imagining that Melanie would be disappointed in her.

"I'm disappointed in you Vulpix..." Melanie sighed, pulling out a Pokéball from the side of her bag.

When she opened the capturing device, she brought out her little Dragon Type, Shelgon!

"H-Huh?" He was awoken so suddenly, that he had no idea what was going on!

"Hey bud, sorry about interrupting your sleep, but can you use Ember on Jessica's Eevee? Please?" Melanie apologized at first, then she commanded the attack.

"Sure thing." Shelgon simply replied back, firing an ember flame at the block of ice above him.

As the ember soaked through the ice, it melted it almost instantly! Rosie was left shivering from the cold, gasping for air!

"*Gasp!* Ah! F-Fresh air!" Rosie exclaimed happily, holding onto her Trainer for support.

"Rosie!? Rosie are you okay?" Jessica hugged the evolutionary Pokémon to death, petting her gently.

"T-They hurt me! She did!" Rosie pointed her paw down towards Vulpix, and then shook her head for her Trainer to understand.

Then, tears started trickling down her cheeks, which clearly gave her emotions away. Jessica felt so bad for her, to the point where she gave Melanie a killer look.

"What's your problem huh?" She barked out, shocking Melanie and the rest of the Pokémon.

"What do you mean what's my problem? You're the one giving me killer looks every time I look at you for even a second!" Melanie backed herself up, stepping closer to her.

"Whatever, it's not like he'll EVER notice you!" Jessica smirked slightly, hiding it from Alex.

Melanie had no words... She blushed heavily, but she was also heartbroken by what she said. Alex didn't know who she was referring too, but he somewhat had an idea of who she was talking about...

"Alex, Professor Sycamore is going to be starting the next event pretty soon! Wanna go over and see?" Jessica offered, turning her back to Melanie.

"Um yeah, sure! I'll join you in a bit." Alex replied, sounding a bit happy.

"Great!" Jessica giggled, walking off with her Pokémon.

Meanwhile... Everyone was staring at Vulpix!

"Vulpix, did you mean to do that to her?" Melanie asked, kneeling down to the Ice Type's level.

"N-No." Vulpix let a single tear down her face, being comforted by Eevee at her side.

She shook her head in return, trying to get them to understand.

"I believe her." Alex agreed, making her smile.

"T-Thanks Alex." Vulpix smiled again, while also being petted by Melanie.

"You didn't do it on purpose did you? I'm sorry for yelling at you like that." Melanie grinned, stroking Vulpix's curly hair.

"Yeah, anyways! Let's go and see what the Professor has to say huh?" Alex asked the group, offering Melanie a hand to help her up.

"Y-Yeah, let's go!" Melanie continued to smile, blushing when she grabbed his hand.

When she finally got back up, the two of them started walking towards the center of the room, along with the other Trainers and their Pokémon.

"Let's go." Eevee smirked, grabbing Vulpix's paw.

"Okay." Vulpix blushed, wrapping her paw around his.

The couple gladly walked together, happily showing their love for one another.

"What just happened...?" Buneary asked, turning to Zorua.

Zorua didn't know what to say, but he was onto that Eevee... Shelgon started walking towards the larger group very slowly, taking his time to move.

"I-I don't know, but something isn't right about Rosie. She's just... She seems evil to me." Zorua sighed, turning back to her.

He didn't trust showing himself in front of everybody, only some people... But not the entire camp. He quickly flipped himself into the air, and disguised himself as an Aipom!

"I have to agree with you, I don't trust her either... I've always hated her, but anyways! Let's go see what's gonna happen next!" Buneary was excited, hopping joyfully to her new Trainer.

Zorua quickly followed after her, curious as well!

 _ **Anyways...**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

 _ **Play Song: (Hau'oli City (Day) - Pokemon: Sun and Moon - Music Extended:**_ ** _watch?v=trcglPsjiho)_**

The group finally made their way to the Professor, as all of the Trainers and Pokémon gathered around the center of the room, waiting for the Professor to begin talking! Alex was standing right beside Jessica, and Melanie eventually found James.

"Hey, what happened earlier? I heard you yelling back there over with Jessica." James wondered, remembering how she suddenly left him at the table.

"Nothing, don't worry about it... Just some dramatic stuff between Jessica and Alex." Melanie sighed in frustration, blushing lightly yet again.

And once more... James quickly took note of her small, but noticeable blush. It couldn't fool him, nothing could at this point...

"You know, you should take a walk with him down to the beach or something tonight, after all of this is done. I'll encourage him to make the move! I'm 100% confident that he likes you back. Besides, we're all going to be travelling till he's champion of the region! Hopefully..." James chuckled at that last part, still hoping for his friend to achieve his dream.

"Yeah, hopefully he does achieve that... Let's hope so, but anyways I just-" Melanie began talking back, but the Professor had already started announcing the next thing!

"Hello again everyone!" The Professor happily greeted everyone again with open arms!

Everyone said hello back to the Professor, except for the competitive Trainers of course... The Professor started with his speech, still giving them wall warm welcome smiles!

"So here's how the week will progress! All of you will make up teams of three!" Sycamore started off, showing the count with his fingers.

All of the Trainers looked at one another, with some of them already deciding who'd be in their team!

"Next, every day we'll have a new event to compete in! Tomorrow's event is a surprise! But it'll be fun! Each event will go on through each day, and who ever finishes first, second, or third, will receive a certain amount of points at the end of the day! The team with the highest amount of points by the end of the week, will be crowned the winners of this season's camp! And they'll also receive a real nice gold trophy to share! It'll be a ton of fun!" Sycamore continued on, chuckling joyfully.

When he was finished giving the speech, all of the Trainers were happily talking to each other, pumped up for the week!

"Now, I know you're all probably hungry since it's almost lunch, so we've decided to cook you all a big feast!" The Professor announced, watching as the other camp staff members brought out several large tables with all kinds of good looking food on them! Everyone's mouth started watering with taste, they were all very hungry!

"Dig in everyone! You're gonna want the energy for the week! Anyways, this concludes your first day at the camp! See you guys then!" The Professor waved everyone off, heading out of the room.

Meanwhile, everyone was rushing for the tables, trying to grab their food! It was a real catastrophe! Pokémon shoved their way through, Trainers pushed each other! If you were to try and grab a plate for yourself, then you wouldn't be able to have your own plate!

 _ **Minutes later...**_

Once everyone had finally gotten organized and began eating, they were at their respective tables. Alex, Melanie and James were all sitting together, enjoying the company they shared.

"This is amazing!" James screamed, digging into his food some more.

He was having some type of casserole, it was cheesy too! Enough to fill him up for the rest of the day!

"I couldn't agree more!" Melanie giggled, taking a sip of her delicious soup.

She was having a broccoli cheddar soup, enjoying the taste of the vegetables inside!

"This thing is just as good as my mom makes it!" Alex smiled, eating potatoes with gravy on them, along with a side of carrots, and of course to complete the main course... He was also having a delicious tomato soup!

The three friends ate their food so fast, that they forgot about their Pokémon's food!

"Wait guys! Did we feed- Oh..." James started to panic, but when he looked over to the side of their table, he stopped himself.

All of their Pokémon were talking to one another, like a thanksgiving dinner! Every single one of them were smiling, and they were enjoying the pellets that were in their bowls too!

 _ **Translation: (Poké-Language!)**_

"Mmm! This stuff tastes good!" Pancham laughed, stuffing the whole bowl into his mouth.

"Jeez, if you eat too fast you might spit it back out again." Braixen teased him, laughing at the reaction of his face.

"I'm not gonna spit it out! I want MOAR!" Pancham cried, finishing the bowl.

"I think one bowl is good enough... She IS right after all." Grovyle sat next to him, winking at Braixen.

"Exactly!" Braixen smiled back, blushing lightly.

"Well now what am I supposed to do? You're all still eating?" Pancham wondered, looking at the group.

"Of course we are... WE JUST STARTED EATING!" Staravia chirped at him, eating her pellets one by one carefully.

"By the time you finish eating those pellets, the week is already going to be finished." Pancham rolled his eyes, huffing and groaning like an immature child.

"You guys are lucky you can eat..." Shelgon sighed, trying to cope with it.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to face the Dragon Type, giving him an odd stare.

"You need food to survive on! You need food right?" Fletchinder asked.

"I don't need food... I'm fine without it." Shelgon shook his head, lying down.

"Awh... That sucks! Food is great!" Zorua chuckled, eating a pellet.

He used his Aipom tail to stick the pellet into his mouth, doing a couple of tricks with them to show how awesome he was!

"Showoff..." Buneary growled, rolling her eyes playfully.

"You know I'm cool! You just don't wanna admit it Bun." Zorua laughed, making her a bit annoyed.

"Bun!? What kind of nickname is that?!" Buneary glared at him in return, blushing.

"I think it's an adorable name." Vulpix liked the sound of it, making both of them blush!

"It was JUST a nickname, nothing more." Zorua sighed, embarrassed and looking to the floor.

Meanwhile, Eevee and Vulpix were sharing their moment together, they eventually did something so adorable, that everyone couldn't resist to watch the lovely couple!

"How's your pellets taste?" Eevee smiled, grabbing her paw romantically.

"They taste good, what about yours? Are yours Normal Type pellets?" Vulpix wondered, staring at his bowl.

"Of course they are, why wouldn't they be? Let me try yours!" Eevee laughed, grabbing her bowl.

But before he could, Vulpix stopped him from grabbing it himself. She blushed and picked one up herself, then she fed it to him by putting her paw to his mouth. He gladly ate the pellet, and began chewing on it adorably. When he finally finished, he did the same thing back to her, feeding her as well!

"Mmm, they taste... A little cold in my mouth, but I'm sure that's what they're supposed to be." He chuckled, smiling widely at her.

"These one taste a little..." Vulpix couldn't find the words, but she felt her body slowly moving towards Eevee on it's own.

The two of them gradually ignored the food, and leaned forward together. Both of them eventually touched their lips together, making out passionately. They were inseparable! Trainers around them as well as other Pokémon were just staring at the two, finding it adorable and romantic! The couple blushed, knowing that they were being watched, but they didn't care. Their kiss lasted about a good two minutes or so, with each wrapping each other's paw around the other. Hugging each other while they were kissing, it felt like fireworks were going off around them. That was when one of them needed some air, Vulpix pulled out of it and stared only at her other half. He did the same and just focused on her, no one else. The two of them grinned at each other, clasping each other's paws and continuing on with their pellets!

"You two should get a room." Shelgon teased both of them, closing his eyes to rest some more.

"S-Shut it..." The two of them spoke at the same time, ignoring all the stares towards their way.

"Hehe, ya'll see the blushes on their face?" Buizel walked over to the group, surprising everyone!

"Hey Buizel!" Eevee happily waved over to him, receiving a wave back from the Water Type Pokémon.

"Heya, Looks like you finally got the kiss?" Buizel teased, making them both blush more.

"W-We've done it already... Just not that romantically..." Vulpix played with the swirls on her head, blushing harder.

"Y-Yeah, what she said!" Eevee laughed nervously, blushing just as much as her.

"Good, you two got a strong connection, If we were to go head and head in battle, I would love to see the two of you battling together, I wonder how good of a team you both would be. It'd be interesting! Ice and a Normal! You don't see those two everyday, anyways... Tata!" Buizel walked back to his own group of friends casually, acting very cool doing so!

Zorua looked up to the Pokémon, he didn't know him, but he looked pretty cool to hang around with! That was when he was tackled by another Pokémon! Such a sudden force caused him to roll back on his backside pretty hard!

"O-OW! What the heck's your problem man!?" Zorua rubbed his head carefully, getting up from the floor.

But what he saw, scared him half to death... It was an Ambipom! And she had hearts around her eyes, not taking them off of him for one second!

"Oh Arceus... Please... NO!" Zorua backed away from the Pokémon, nervous about the situation he got himself into.

"My dear Aipom! Come here!" The Ambipom tackled him in an instant, refusing to let him escape!

"G-GAAAH! NO!" Zorua struggled, being kissed all over by the bigger Pokémon.

He found it weird and awkward, not to mention everyone was watching! He was embarrassed half to death, until he finally had enough of it! He pushed her off of his own body, and then did a quick flip in the air, removing his disguise. He revealed himself in front of everyone, but he didn't seem to care... He was already owned, so what did it matter?

"I'm not an Aipom!" He yelled, scaring her away.

He watched as she slapped him hard with one of her tails in rage! He was sent back flying, eventually colliding with Braixen's body. She caught him luckily, but she was too busy laughing at what she was seeing.

"Sicko! Why would you change into an Aipom then! I thought you were my mate!" She screamed, running away from the group.

"Ouch..." Zorua collected himself again, he couldn't believe what happened...

He was just slapped by another female Pokémon, and it hurt a lot too!

"So much for being cool." Buneary joked around, making everyone laugh around him.

"Shut up!" Zorua snarled at her, walking back to her in defeat.

He fixed the scarf of fur around his neck, and then checked the red part of his hair on top of his head. Sure enough, after he groomed his own self with his own paw, he sat next to her, shaking his head off.

"Don't ever speak of this again, you all hear me?" He yelled, making sure they got the message.

Never have they ever saw the dark aura around his body, but he looked pretty scary with it! It was enough to shut them up though, to let them know not to mess with him...

 _ **Anyways...**_

 _ **Translation: (Normal)**_

As the time kept on going, everyone eventually finished eating their food, while others began discussing to each other what their team name should be, as well as their members! And of course, our three heroes were all together, enjoying the dinner still!

"So, who wants to be a team?" James started off the conversation, crossing his arms and looking between Alex and Melanie.

"Us three?" Melanie suggested, smiling at them both.

"Of course it's going to be us three! Why wouldn't we all be partners? We got the best of the best on our team." Alex sounded confident, smiling proudly.

The three of them all looked down at their Pokémon, and they were all taking short naps next to each other in a large group hug! It looked quite adorable in a way, and it made the three of them happy on the inside. They all agreed to be a trio team with each other, happily showing their strong friendship.

"Cool! So then, what about the team name? What should it be?" James asked them, trying to come up with ideas.

Each of them carefully thought of clever names to use, blurting out tons of answers with one another, until they were all happy with what they chose.

"What about... The Aether Killers!" James shouted, laughing with his own joke.

"You can't be serious right?" Alex asked, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I have to agree, they ARE annoying to deal with... Now that we're on Faba's ''watch-list''" Melanie sighed, laughing with James

"Hm... Well, how about The Sole Survivors! Since we survived the Aether back at that town?" Alex suggested.

While they were suggesting some names, James took the chance to jot down some creative names on the list. Once they all kept on going at it, James couldn't keep track of how many names could fit on the small piece of paper! But, when they were finally happy with what they came up with, James finally finished writing down all the names.

 _ **"Team Names"**_

 _ **"Dream Crushers"**_  
 _ **"Rainbow Warriors"**_  
 _ **"Seawolves"**_  
 _ **"Rangers"**_  
 _ **"Rampagers"**_  
 _ **"Shooting Stars"**_  
 _ **"Titans"**_  
 _ **"Sky Raiders"**_

 _ **(You decide what team name they should be! Leave a review or a PM! The team name will be chosen next chapter!)**_

"All of those names are cool! But we'll have all night to decide on it." Alex smiled, looking at the list of names.

He gave it back to James, and he placed the notepad back into his bag, he knew he'd find it useful one day!

"All right... Looks like we've been here for quite a while now, *yawn* You guys wanna start heading back to the cabin?" James yawned, proving to them that he was tired.

"Yeah, I guess we should collect everyone and leave." Melanie replied, taking out her team's Pokéballs from her bag.

"Yeah, but before we do... Let me check out that Buneary you got!" Alex grinned, pulling out his Pokédex.

He scanned the bunny-like Pokémon quickly, then the three of them listened to the voice of the Pokédex.

"Buneary, the rabbit-like Normal Type Pokémon. It's arms and legs are weak, but when it rolls its ears up tight and then unleashes them with its full force, it can smash boulders to dust. The reason it keeps one ear rolled up is so that it can launch a swift counterattack if it's attacked by an enemy. This Pokémon is a female, and it's known moves are, Water Pulse, Attract, Jump Kick and Ice Punch." The Pokédex carefully explained all the details, leaving them all impressed!

"That's cool, if knows a Water and an Ice Type move!" Melanie replied happily, amazed by her brand new addition to the team.

"That's awesome! I'm sure she'll be happy with us! The earlier we get to bed, the more energy we'll have for those competitions! Let's try and get first place!" Alex smiled, offering a fistbump to his two close friends.

All three of them shared the gesture with one another, taking lots of Pokéballs from their bags. Once they all got their Pokéballs together, they opened them all and aimed them towards the Pokémon. Within seconds, all of their Pokémon were returned to their own ball, then, each of them got up from the table.

"Going so soon?" Sam gave them all a dirty look, smirking at Alex shortly after.

"Of course we are, we need to get some rest so that we'll win that competition tomorrow." James explained, walking with Melanie.

Alex never met Sam before, but James and Melanie weren't excactly on good terms with him...

"Good luck, it's not like you three will ever actually win one of those competitions." Sam laughed out loud, being rude towards them.

"Excuse me?" Alex turned back to him, giving him an angry glare.

"You heard him, but still... Sam, don't be so mean on them, especially Alex." Jessica smiled, just appearing right beside Sam.

She smiled towards Alex, but when she looked over to Melanie, she gave her a dark evil look... Melanie did the same in return, having no respect for her at ALL whatsoever. Sam simply crossed his arms, and waved off to them, walking away from the group.

"Don't mind him, he's just too competitive sometimes..." Jessica apologized for his behavior, bowing to Alex.

"It's fine, I can get like that too, except not too mean about it, you know?" Alex replied, grinning back at her.

"Yeah, I know that one... I do showcases." Jessica smiled proudly, taking his hand gently.

Upon contact, she blushed happily, and James took notice of this instantly! He also saw a blush forming on Alex's face too, and the look on Melanie's face clearly gave it away that she was jealous of her.

"You wanna take a walk with me?" Jessica offered, leading him on.

"O-Oh um, sure I guess! Melanie, James, I'll see you two at the cabin later alright?" Alex nodded his head towards each of them, then proceeded out of the main building with Jessica next to him.

The two of them left... And when they did, Melanie clenched her fists in frustration. James took the opportunity to pat her on the back, trying to relieve her of her stress.

"Don't let it bother you, hey! Why don't we go explore the forest or something? Maybe I'll make that tasty soup for you again, hm? I'm sure nothing will happen to Alex, trust me." James quickly calmed her down, relieving her successfully!

"Fine..." She groaned, letting it all out.

She didn't let it bother her, and she continued out the door along with James. Together, the two of them just hung out, exploring the area around them!

However... A certain person was watching the entire group, a certain person who appeared in the shadows before...

"Still has her, huh?" The stranger replied in the dark corner of the room, smirking evilly...

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

Both Melanie and James eventually made it to the forest area behind all of the cabins, it was on the mountainside of the camp. It wasn't completely night yet, but the sun was beginning to set. The day went by pretty fast, but Melanie couldn't keep her mind off of Jessica. James knew it that deep inside, she wanted to confront her, but she just couldn't... She was in no position to start a war with her, who knows what it could turn out to!

"Alright, we made it pretty far! So now what?" She asked James, trying to get her mind off of the topic.

"Um, I think I need to restock on berries. So I'll be-" James explained, until he collided with a heavy object!

When Melanie went to see if he was okay, James backed away from the object. Upon the sight of it. It was a floating gold ring just hanging there!

"A golden ring?" James tilted his head in surprise, grabbing it without hesitation.

When Melanie first saw it, she knew exactly what it was, it had to be Hoopa's!

"Hey, that's Hoopa's ring!" Melanie pointed out, stepping closer to the ring.

"What's it doing here then? Are you sure it's his ring?" James was dumbfounded, but he was surprised to see it!

"Of course it is! Just look at-" Melanie stopped talking once the ring grew large in size!

The ring engulfed both of them instantly! Transporting them into a whole new part of the world! All they saw were rainbows, until both of them blacked out!

"Melanie!" James screamed her name out, scared for his life.

 ** _But he didn't receive a response..._**

 _ **And now...**_

 _ **Play Song: (Pokemon Sun and Moon - Aether Paradise 2 Theme Extended:**_ ** _watch?v=GLX7n-WDBOw)_**

"C-Cooos! MOOG!" Cosmog's screams were so loud, that he managed to dent the bars in the cell!

He blew back Faba, as well as Lillie! Both of them watched as Nebby was shaking quite violently.

"Faba what did you do!?" Lillie screamed, shedding tears.

"I did what I must have! That serum should increase his powers! I only gave him a tad bit, no reason to get worried, he's perfectly fine!" Faba laughed evilly, walking over to Nebby.

"You're a monster! You don't know what that stuff will do to him!" Lillie tried breaking free from her cell, but it just didn't work...

"You said his name was Nebby right? I guess I'll call him that..." Faba smirked, opening a blue colored Pokéball.

Lillie examined the ball as it sucked Nebby up. The Pokéball didn't look familiar, she never saw a ball like that before. It was mostly blue, and it had a grid-like pattern on the body, along with golden arcs on the corners of the device.

"What is that thing? Is that even a Pokéball!?" She shrieked at him, desperately wanting to kill him.

"Oh, this?" Faba smiled, showing her the ball.

Faba continued on, laughing more than ever,

"This is a Beast Ball, capable of capturing the Ultra Beasts with ease! Looks like it worked on Nebby here... Now if you'll excuse me, I better return to the labs to experiment some more."

He put the ball into his lab coat, and walked off back towards the elevator of the room. He left Lillie, upset, cold, and alone in the dark cells... She could do nothing, nothing at all to save Nebby from the evil chief.

"N-Nebby... I need to get out of here!" Lillie clenched her fists, looking around her cell room for a way out.

She had to save him, her little Nebby! After she started searching around the place, she threw her pillows around and looked underneath the bed. But unfortunately... There was no hope, no hope at all... She couldn't escape, she couldn't save Nebby from Faba.

"I-I just hope he won't do anything bad to you... I promise I'll save you as soon as I get out of this place." Lillie fell to the ground, burying her face into her knees.

But... Just as all hope was lost, it was quickly regained back when she heard some metal rustling outside! She quickly glared at the metal sound, noticing that the air vent was moving! The vent was eventually kicked wide open! Revealing a tiny Pokémon covered in dust! The Pokémon jumped down from the vent, and face planted into the floor below!

"Wah! You okay?" Lillie climbed closer to the bars, hoping the little critter was alright.

The critter eventually stood back up again, shaking its fur off clean! Once the dust was completely off of its body, it revealed itself as a Pichu!

"Pichu! Pi?" The Electric Mouse Type Pokémon tilted its head adorably, running closer to the bars.

"Come here..." Lillie smiled, spreading her arms out.

With ease, the Pokémon climbed through the bar instantly! Due to his small size, the little Pichu squeezed right in! Once it made it to Lillie, it jumped into her arms, nuzzling its cheek against hers!

"You okay fella?" Lillie smiled some more, rubbing the tiny Pokémon's head lovingly.

"Pichu!" Pichu nodded happily, climbing onto her shoulder.

"I'm stuck here just as much as you are..." Lillie sighed, happy that she had at least some company to talk to.

The Pichu burrowed its head into her beautiful hair, she laughed some more as the little creature showed love towards her, almost like a child would do to their mom. That's when she got reminded of her own mother, and how she was disappointed... She was upset that her mother found out about Vulpix.

"I hope you can forgive me mother, I just had to do it... In order to protect them both. It's all Faba's doing... He's the evil one here." Lillie sighed, still stroking the mouse's fur.

"Piii... Chu Pi..." Pichu yawned, falling asleep on her hair.

"You're very adorable, you know that? I don't understand how they could do this to Pokémon like you. It just makes me sick to my stomach." Lillie continued talking to the Pokémon, making sure it felt safe with her.

She vowed from that moment fourth, that she wouldn't let anything happen to him.

"I hope Melanie's okay with Vulpix, and don't worry... You're safe with me, I'll make sure of it." Lillie smiled some more, feeling happier that she told the Pokémon.

The Pichu replied with a happy yawn, finally falling asleep on top of her. She laid back down on her bed to take a short rest, hiding him from the view of the cell outside. If anyone were to check up on her, she could at least keep Pichu out of sight, but the real question was... For how long?

 _ **Meanwhile... In another part of the world!**_

 _ **Play Song: (Sealed Chamber - Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Music Extended:**_ ** _watch?v=iddDzJc_5fI &t=78s)_**

"Whoa! WAH!" James let out a yelp, colliding to the floor.

He finally made it out of the ring, but when he opened his eyes... He had no idea where he was! It was a bit dark, but there was no sight of anyone or anything!

"James?" Melanie called him, approaching him cautiously, as to not freak him out.

"Melanie? Where are you?" James asked, looking around with wide eyes.

He eventually found her in the dark chilly cave, and the two of them were still confused...

"H-Help!" A familiar voice played in Melanie's mind, as well as James too!

"Did you hear that?" Melanie asked her friend, thinking she was just imagining things.

"No, I definitely heard it, and it didn't sound good either, let's go help them out!" James quickly spoke, running off towards the direction of the voice.

The cave wasn't really that dark, but it could really help them to have some light at least... If only Braixen was here, then she could light up the cave with her stick. But just as that thought ended, Melanie didn't want to wake Shelgon up. He was still tired from the battle with Diancie yesterday. As they walked around the cave, there was only one direction to travel in.

"What is this place even?" Melanie asked, looking around the walls.

Some of the walls has weird symbols on them, the symbols were orange colored, which gave them an eerie presence.

"I don't know, but if we have to fight someone... Who are you planning to use?" James asked her, getting ready to throw a Pokéball out if need be.

"I'll use Buneary, might as well give her a chance to fight right? She's seems powerful enough." Melanie smiled, curious about the cave at the same time.

James took a chance to stop when they finally made it to an opening, the big clearing had symbols all over the walls. But some of the symbols weren't letters... They were dots instead, looking alien to both of them.

"Do you understand any of this?" Melanie asked him out loud, staring at the symbols blankly.

"Beats me, what ever happened to that voice we heard earlier?" James turned to look at her, thinking nobody was in the cave with them.

"I don't know... But that golden ring had to mean something, maybe we were called upon here for a reason. Maybe Hoopa was the one calling for help, he's the only Pokémon in the world who can use the golden rings right?" Melanie suggested, coming up with something.

"Well, yeah I'm pretty sure he's the only Pokémon that can use them, but I've never been through a ring before... It just felt weird earlier." James replied, walking closer to the center of the clearing.

"I don't see him anywhe-" He continued talking pretty loudly, until he heard some loud stone-like noises echoing in the cave!

Just when it was too late to do anything... A giant statue rock-like Pokémon landed right in front of him, startling them both half to death! The earthquake that it caused made James fall, and he backed away in fear.

"James!" Melanie ran over by his side, helping him up off of the floor as quick as she could.

The two of them backed away from the creature, taking their respective Pokéballs out, ready to fight!

The Pokémon's eyes glowed brightly in the dark... and they were orange colored. The body of the Pokémon was mostly rock, and it also had a mix of orange spots too. The orange dots were its eyes, and they were pretty scary looking, they were in the formation of the letter H. Upon seeing this, James backed away even further... Now he knew what cave they were in...

 _ **Play Song: (Battle! Regi Trio - Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=4MvGRM5lQkg)**_

"Don't tell me... We're interrupting it's nap?" James cried, whining about the situation.

"What is that?" Melanie asked him, looking between him and the bigger Pokémon.

"R-R-Re... Gigigigi!" The Pokémon shouted at both of them, stomping it's feet on the rocks below.

With every stomp, there was a shockwave coming from it, and Melanie was starting to get scared.

"Um... Don't be mad at Hoopa or anything... But we're in Hoenn... That's a Regirock!" James told her, remembering what his pops told him about the Regi Trio.

"WHAT?! HOENN?" Melanie screamed, they were in a totally different region?

"W-Well... I've only heard of the Regi's being in Hoenn, so I just assumed so! But ignore all that stuff, we don't have a chance against it! That's a legendary Pokémon!" James told her, putting the Pokéball away.

He ushered her to run away from the creature, but she had other ideas.

"How are we supposed to get back home then? By beating it!? What's with all these legendaries we keep meeting! Come out Vulpix!" Melanie threw the Pokéball into the air, watching the device open up.

The stream of light landed in front of both of them, forming into the Alolan Vulpix that we all love!

"Vul?" Vulpix looked around the place, wondering where she was at.

She turned around and saw Melanie and James, and the look on their faces gave it away almost instantly.

"Pix!" Vulpix turned back around to face the Pokémon's way, starting in her battle stance.

"Melanie, don't let Vulpix waste her energy... She doesn't have the power to stop a legendary like that!" James yelled, trying to get her to change her mind.

"You wanna run right? Don't worry... Vulpix use Icy Wind!" Melanie announced her first attack.

"Vul-PIIIX!" Vulpix jumped into the air and blew out the cold wind from her mouth.

The large cloudy projectile started making its way towards Regirock, and it was just standing still! As soon as the cloud reached it, it simply just shook around as fast as it possibly could, but it was too late for the legendary golem! It's entire body was frozen in a huge block of ice in a matter of no time!

"Yes! Good job Vulpix!" Melanie smiled, running below her to catch her as she fell back down.

She caught her with ease, holding her carefully in her arms.

"I think we can run now!" Melanie and James made a run for it!

The two of them started running back to the way they came from, but that's when it all went wrong... They heard more rumbling coming from behind... They eventually made it to a dead end, and they looked into the darkness once more. All of a sudden, there were yellow dots, and red dos glowing...

"Oh no..." James shook in fear, realizing who there were.

"W-What? What's happening!" Melanie asked in shock, backing away to the wall with him.

Those same orange dots appeared as well, and then... Torches on the walls lit up on their own, providing enough light for the entire cave to be seen! Regirock was standing pretty tall, along with it's other two golems...

"GIGIGIGIGI!" Regirock cried, stepping closer to the two Trainers.

"R-Regi-Regice!" The Pokémon with the yellow eyes revealed itself.

It's entire body was made up of ice! Then the other hidden golem made its way into the battle too!

"Gigi-Steel-Regi!" This other golem was made up of steel, and its body was more round than the other two.

"I-Is this the Regi trio?" Melanie asked him, holding Vulpix tightly.

"Of course they are the trio! We're so dead!" James coward in fear, scared for his life on the line!

"Vul!" Vulpix wanted to fight them badly, in order to protect them.

"Vulpix... I don't think it's safe letting you take them on, let alone their legendaries! We probably wouldn't be able to beat them even if we used ALL of our Pokémon." Melanie sighed, trying to return her to her Pokéball.

Vulpix sighed in frustration, accepting the fact that she couldn't do anything to help them anymore. Melanie wanted her to be safe, so she returned her back into her ball. She quickly placed the ball into her bag yet again, and closed it tightly, making sure it couldn't come open.

"You got any ideas?" She asked James, standing completely still.

"Well... We made it to a dead end, there's three legends mad at us for ruining their sleep! What else can we do! We can't run their way, they'll break us in half like sticks!" James panicked, watching the trio curiously looking at them both.

They didn't seem friendly... But each of them took a stop closer to them, creating large shockwaves one by one! Both Melanie and James had no idea what to do... Until an idea popped up in her mind!

"Wait, that's it! We just have to counter them! Shelgon can dominate the Ice looking thing, as well as the metal one too! And I think Buneary knows a Water Type move! With those two, we can easily counter those three!" Melanie happily explained her idea, pulling out their Pokéballs.

"You really think you have the power to fight them all?" James asked in return, dumbfounded by her suicide mission...

"Of course I think so... Gotta be brave like Alex right?" Melanie let out a quick giggle, before tossing the two balls into the air.

James sighed, but he shared a smirk with her.

"Might as well!" He cheered excitedly, throwing a Pokéball into the air with hers, joining her in the fight!

Together, the two of them sent out Buneary, Shelgon, as well as Fletchinder!

"Fletch!" Fletchinder cried out, eager to battle!

"Bun?" Buneary came, but she was confused by everything going around her.

"Shel!" Shelgon was looking tired, but he was just as clueless as Buneary was.

"No time to explain guys!" Melanie told them all, looking at the three Regis

The three Pokémon exchanged glances at each other, then they looked at the three golems ahead of them.

"You guys ready?" James asked them all, feeling a tad bit nervous about the fight coming up.

"Before we start, um, what're their names again?" Melanie wondered what to call them.

"Regice, Regirock, and Registeel." James sighed, face palming himself

But, they were feeling pretty confident enough that they could win. Without further ado, Melanie went ahead and attacked first, before the golems could do anything about it.

"Shelgon, Dragon Breath on Regice! Buneary, use Water Pulse on Regirock!" Melanie commanded, hoping to her heart that they could at least weaken them.

Shelgon threw the fiery projectile towards the large Ice Type, while Buneary did the same, launching her Water attack towards Regirock.

"Fletchinder, use Ember on Regice! Combine your move with the Dragon Breath!" James announced.

Within seconds, Fletchinder flew at the speed of light, catching up to the Dragon move. He used his Ember attack, and combined it with the Dragon Breath, creating a shiny purple colored projectile! It was pretty large too, and it looked very powerful!

"Regi! Re-Gigi-Gi-Ice!" Regice chanted it's own name, with it's voice echoing throughout the cavern.

It summoned all sorts of Icicles, then it launched them towards the fiery move! Upon seeing this, James wasn't really worried about the attack, seeing that the fire would just melt it away with ease.

"Gigigigi, ROCK!" Regirock stomped it's feet to the floor once again, summoning a gigantic boulder from the rocky ground!

It quickly picked up the boulder, then it threw the object towards the fiery projectile, melting the move away instantly!

"You're kidding me? They actually got rid of that? The Regirock used it as a shield!" James groaned in annoyance, watching as Fletchinder was about to get hit from the icicles.

"Ember! Melt those icicles away!" James commanded, trying to save him from the attack.

Thanks to his quick speed though, he was able to use the move and counter the attack, leaving Regice and Regirock looking pretty ticked off. Meanwhile... On the other hand, Buneary took quite some time to charge up her Water Type move. She summoned a large veil of water, then she threw the move towards Regirock, hoping it'd be quick enough to stop it!

"Steel!" Registeel immediately jumped in front of Regirock's body, using it's own body as a shield!

The water simply bounced off of its metal body, leaving Melanie quite shocked!

"N-No way they're actually countering everything we do!" Melanie whispered to James out loud, he was just as annoyed as her.

"I know, we'll have to think of a plan to beat them... But it won't be easy, they ARE Legendary Pokémon after all." James replied back to her comment.

"Well duh, I know that... But we can't give up yet! Maybe beating all of them is the key to getting back home." Melanie continued speaking, watching as the three golems stared them down intensely.

But just then, Regirock stomped on the grounds below yet again, causing a massive earthquake! Rocks from the ceiling started falling on them! It was raining large sharp looking boulders! Melanie looked around for a spot to hide under, just when she saw the perfect spot.

"James, quick under there!" Melanie yelled his name, running over to the small little roof that the hole provided.

James nodded his head, following her as fast as he could. The two of them returned their Pokémon back into their safe little homes, then proceeded to duck under the roof. As more rocks started falling down, it eventually ended, bringing the intensity down just a bit. Both of them managed to escape from the hole unharmed, but then...

"Gigi, Ice!" Regice raised its large arms up into the air, shooting tons of water from the tips of them!

As soon as James could realize what it was doing, the water level in the room started going up slightly. Then, all of a sudden... It began to rain inside of the cave infinitely!

"Ugh... Fire moves won't work in this place." James realized that it was using a heavy rain attack.

"Now what do we do?" Melanie asked, pulling out more Pokéballs.

"Wait, call Vulpix out, make her freeze all of the water, then maybe... I can use Fletchinder's Wing Attack, that'll probably make the icicles fly towards them." James came up with a plan, pulling out Fletchinder's ball once again.

Together, they threw the devices into the air in unison, calling out their two Pokémon. Vulpix and Fletchinder were summoned back into the battle, both looking equally as confused.

"Expect this to happen you two, but Vulpix! I need you to freeze all of this water, use Powder Snow!" Melanie announced.

Before Vulpix used the move, she looked back at her friends to make sure they were safe from the range of her attack. James and Melanie stepped back a bit, trying to find a large rock to climb up on. Once they finally found the right size, James helped Melanie up first, then she proceeded to help him in return.

"Now Vulpix!" Melanie shouted.

Fletchinder eventually reached them, landing on top of James' head.

"Vul-PIIIX!" Vulpix jumped into the air with ease, firing the large snowy clouds out from her mouth.

When the clouds reached the entire place, it started to snow pretty heavily!

"Gigi! Steel!" Registeel jumped up after her, growing a large metallic sword from his hand.

Vulpix stared at him in disbelief, seeing the blade in his hand.

"Pi!" Vulpix tucked her head in, blowing snow all over her self!

Within seconds, she froze herself in a block of ice, shielding her body from the attack!

"REGI!" Registeel sliced through the block, shattering it almost instantly!

Luckily, Vulpix was unharmed, and when she landed, she landed on the frozen lake of ice, slipping quite easily. James and Melanie stared at her, after they covered themselves from the snow. The entire cave was frozen, Regirock and Registeel were also frozen in larger blocks of ice!

"Yes, it worked! Now Fletchinder, use Ember on Regice!" James commanded the next attack.

Within moments, Fletchinder let out a battle cry, flying into Regice's direction.

"Regice!" Regice's eyes started blinking rapidly, then it put its two arms together, creating an aura sphere.

As soon as the move finished charging up, it shot the move straight at Fletchinder!

"Fletchinder dodge it!" James announced, worried for the move hitting him.

Fortunately, Fletchinder flapped his wings pretty hard, flying above the move before it could hit him! Then, it shot an Ember straight at Regice's face, causing the golem to stumble back a bit. It started losing its balance from the strong fiery move, and James had a great idea!

"Knock it over, use Wing Attack on its foot!" James kept on going, and Melanie knew he was doing too.

"Come out Shelgon!" Melanie ran onto the ice, slipping a little.

"Shel!" Shelgon came from the Pokéball, grounding itself to the ice next to Vulpix.

The other two Regis were still frozen, so they couldn't waste time!

"Shelgon Dragon Breath! Vulpix, use Aurora Beam on Regirock and Registeel, keep them frozen!" Melanie exclaimed, following through James' plan.

Fletchinder flew at Regice's feet, using his wings to bring the golem down! When he made contact with the legs, Regice lost its balance, falling down onto the ice pretty heavily! It looked like it stunned it, leaving a big opening for them to attack once more! Vulpix was busy firing the beam back between Regirock and Registeel, making sure both of them would stay put.

"Now, Ember!" James shouted out.

Shelgon eventually used the Dragon move, firing it pretty slowly. Melanie knew what her Pokémon was telling her to do, so she followed it as well.

"Use Ember, and combine it with the Dragon Breath!" Melanie told him what to do next.

"Shel!" Shelgon nodded in return, firing the move along with its own.

Together, the two moves combined into that same purple beauty, traveling at the speed of light! Both of the moves hit Regice quickly, causing a massive explosion!

"Yes!" James and Melanie cheered at the same time, giving each other high fives.

"We might be able to win if we keep this up." Melanie smiled victoriously, thinking the Ice Type was a goner.

When the smoke cleared, Regice's eyes were blank! They weren't glowing anymore, they managed to beat the legendary golem!

"W-We actually beat it?" James was in shock, thinking they couldn't pull it off.

"Yup, we did, come on out Buneary!" Melanie continued smiling, calling out the bunny Pokémon.

When Buneary came out, she landed next to Vulpix, looking around at what happened.

"Okay, now lets all focus on Registeel, Shelgon, use Ember and break the ice on Registeel's body!

And as soon as Shelgon heard her command, he used the dragon move once again, melting the ice right off of Registeel!

"S-S-Steel! Gigigi!" Registeel chanted, turning red in anger!

"Fletchinder, Ember!" James yelled on, and Melanie proceeded after him.

"Ember Shelgon! Buneary, use Water Pulse, and Vulpix use Aurora Beam! " Melanie commmanded all three of her Pokémon at once.

Together, the four of them fired their own separate attacks at the Steel Type, but... The golem had plans of its own.

"Gigigigigi!" Registeel's eyes started blinking on and off, as it clasped its two metallic arms together.

It formed a large aura sphere just like Regice, but it looked more metallic looking instead. Four tiny dots formed on the sphere, spreading out evenly! When the four attacks came homing close by, Registeel expanded the ball!m with its own strength, shooting four metallic beams everywhere at the attacks! There were massive explosions from the move, creating dark smoke everywhere! The four Pokémon ran back to their respective Trainer, not expecting what to happen next.

"Regi!" Registeel jumped at the six of them from above!

"Look out!" Melanie pushed James aside, trying to escape with him.

"Vul!" Vulpix fired another Aurora Beam, and continued after her Trainer.

"Shel!" Shelgon buried his head into his tiny shell, shielding himself from harms way.

And Buneary was too busy hopping off fast, in order to evade the golem's wrath! When Registeel made contact with the ground, it created a massive earthquake! Causing everyone in the place to fall to their backs! A few boulders from the roof crumbled around them, and unfortunately... One of those rocks hit Regirock, shattering the ice it was frozen in!

"No! V-Vulpix! Use Powder Snow, and freeze Regirock again!" Melanie hoped to freeze it again, staring blankly at the Rock Type golem.

"Vul-PIIIX!" Vulpix blew her cold wind out towards the creature, and Fletchinder followed after the cloud.

"Use Wing Attack! And make sure those clouds fly quickly!" James spoke yet again, trying to help Vulpix out.

"Fletch!" Fletchinder flew with the clouds, flapping his wings to speed them up!

"REGISTEEL!" Registeel sprinted its way to protect Regirock, smashing its hands into the ground!

Suddenly, small boulders came up from the ground, creating a shield-like structure around the two of them! The clouds simply stopped against the rocks, freezing them instead of the golems...

"W-Well... Registeels going to be a real problem here... It's too fast for us to do anything!" James got a little nervous, as he heard more rumbling from their side..

Both James and Melanie turned to see who it was, and it was Regice!

"Gigi! Ice! Regice!" Regice jumped back up onto its feet, lighting its eyes again!

"W-W-What? I thought we beat it!" Melanie grew nervous, losing a bit of hope.

"I guess we didn't! Now what do we do?" James asked, backing up closer against her back.

"I-I don't know! They're like invincible or something! Everyone Return!" Melanie shouted at her Pokémon, returning them safely into their Pokéballs.

"Fletchinder, come back boy!" James did the same thing, putting the ball away safely.

When they regained theirselves, they only had one thought together...

"Run!" Both of them screamed it out, running for their lives!

Just as they could try to escape... Registeel planted its body in front of them, blocking their path by spreading its arms out! Then, Regice created a large Icy wall around them, making sure to include Regirock and Registeel! Regirock eventually made its way over to them slowly, until the three golems towered over them!

"L-Look we're sorry alright! We were just magically transported here!" James yelled at the three Pokémon, trying to calm them down.

"Regi?" Regice's eyes blinked slightly, but that didn't seem to calm it down...

"We're... We're trapped in here! HOOOPA! WHEREVER YOU ARE! SAVE US!" Melanie screamed at the top of her lungs, worried for their lives.

"W-Wait..." James examined the three of their eyes, waving towards Registeel.

Then he remembered what he read about them... About their eyes!

"I remember... They can only read special symbols to guide their ways! Bring Vulpix out really quick!" James had an idea, looking around the cave.

Melanie brought out Vulpix once again, confused by his plan.

"There's symbols on just the walls, get Vulpix to freeze the cavern, then maybe we can escape if they can't see where they're going!" James hoped it would work, but what else could they do?

"Got it! Vulpix, you heard him!" Melanie looked down at her Ice Type fox.

"Pix!" Vulpix nodded her head in agreement, jumping up into the air!

"Hey! Right here you stupid golems! Try and catch me!" James started sticking his tongue out towards the legendaries, distracting them enough for Vulpix to use her move.

"You can't catch us!" Melanie joined him, running around the circle they were trapped in.

And perfectly, at the right time to do it! Vulpix let out her clouds once again, surrounding the entire cave with them! The golems were too busy distracted by Melanie and James, that they didn't notice Vulpix!

"Vul!" Vulpix used her powers to make it snow onto the walls of the cavern, freezing them almost instantly!

The symbols were covered by a thick sheet of ice, and all of a sudden... The three Regi's eyes were blinking on and off rapidly! Vulpix started falling back down, as Melanie caught her to rest on top of her head.

"Vulpix, do you think you could get us out of here?" Melanie asked, thinking quick while the Regi's stood still!

"We kind of need that escape plan now! It looks like they stopped moving!" James stood beside Melanie, while also checking up on the three from time to time.

"Vulpii!" Vulpix nodded, blowing out her Aurora Beam!

The beam made contact with the circle of ice, shattering it into many shards! It was the perfect route for an escape, they could get out of this place!

"Okay, run!" James shouted, leading the way out of the circle.

Melanie followed him as well, and the two of them easily escaped! Leaving the Regi's dumbfounded!

"Okay Vulpix, I think we're good now! Thanks so much!" Melanie petted Vulpix quickly, before returning her back into her ball.

When they were finished, they finally made it back to the area where they first saw Regirock, and they started looking around for an exit.

"We don't have much time... Not until that ice melts off of the walls! If it comes off, I think they'll awaken again!" James spoke quickly, searching the cave for a way out.

"Well, how the heck are we supposed to find a way out of this cave? I'm not seeing any sunlight at all!" Melanie whined, searching with him.

"You think I know? We can't just blow our way out of a cave like this easily... Can't you summon Hoopa or something?" James asked her, standing awkwardly around nervously.

"I'm not a magician... I can't just say ''HOOPA COME FOURTH!'' And he'll magically teleport to me..." Melanie rolled her eyes, backing herself up.

Just as James was about to talk again, they heard large footsteps from behind... Once they turned around, they looked up as the three Regi's were once again towering over the two.

"Great... Got any ideas NOW?!" Melanie asked her friend, frightened for their lives.

"Well I mean... Look on the bright side, our Pokémon are safe." James shrugged his shoulders in return, with no plan in mind.

"Yeah, but... WHAT ABOUT US?" Melanie screamed at him, making sure the Pokéballs were in her bag nice and secure.

"Gigigi! Rock!" Regirock's eyes blinked, leaving both of them speechless.

Just as soon as the three Regi's were about to jump on them, Melanie heard something magical floating their way. It made a weird space-like sound, and she turned around to see what it was. It was a golden ring, with a portal open to the other side! It was their one way ticket back home!

"James, the ring! Grab onto it!" Melanie quickly told him about the ring, catching his attention quite suddenly.

Without hesitation, both of them grabbed onto the ring, and it suddenly grew in size!

"REGI!" The three Regi's spoke at the same time, rushing in after them, but they were too late...

The ring had already engulfed the two Trainers, taking them to a whole new dimension! Purple, white, red, blue, all kinds of lights were shining around in their vision... Before their own bodies were thrown to the floor!

"O-Ow!" Melanie collided with James, as they both fell out of the ring, and onto sand.

"Next... Next time *pant* Next time let's not travel through the ring at the same time." James sighed, getting up to fix himself.

When the two recovered from hitting each other, James helped Melanie up, and they looked around the environment around them.

"Where are we now?" Melanie wondered, looking around the place they were transported to.

The entire place was covered in a white sand, along with pearly rocks coming out from them too! Bright majestic looking aqua crystals were glowing on larger rocks, and the sun was shining brightly too! The temperature was hot and humid, and it looked like a weird eerie desert to both of them.

 _ **Play Song: (Ultra Space: Desert (Pheromosa) - Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon Music Extended: watch?v=_cDPvuPJ_l0&t=144s)**_

"It's not home, that's for sure. But it looks almost like a desert." James exclaimed, looking around for any signs of life.

"Is there even Pokémon here in this place? HOOPA!" Melanie screamed his name out, but got no response from the mythical legendary...

"Great, guess we should look around huh?" James suggested, walking around the sand.

Melanie proceeded to follow him, looking around the place some more. It DID feel eerie to her, and something just didn't feel right... It was humid, hot, a place like this couldn't exist? With pure white colored sand? It felt weird in a way...

"Do you really believe this place? It doesn't feel right." Melanie asked him, just to be sure they were both awake... And not dreaming...

"Well, I've never seen a place like this before, maybe it's a different realm or something? Or maybe a place like this DOES exist on Earth." James replied, kneeling down to scoop up some of the sand into his hands.

The sand felt warm and dry, and it slid down between his fingers with ease, dropping back down to it's natural place. That was until, they heard that same voice again...

"HELP!" The same voice from the cave cried out, and Melanie recognized it too!

"That voice, it's Hoopa! It has to be... HOOPA?! Where are you!?" She shouted back to where the voice came from, but there was no response, AGAIN!

"We should probably follow it." James led her on, heading towards the direction of the voice.

"I hope he's okay." Melanie hoped for the best to happen, figuring he could watch after himself.

After all, he WAS a legendary Pokémon, they were strong right?

"You said you saw him in his confined form?" James asked her, just to be certain about his powers.

"Confined form? What's that?" Melanie wondered what he was talking about, walking beside him now.

"Well, that's what they called him, back when he was tiny... You said you saw him in his smaller form right?" James asked her again.

"When I first met him yeah, I was bigger than him... Is that what you mean?" Melanie wondered even more about the ring Pokémon.

"Yeah, then he's probably weak... He must've lost his powers again or something, who knows... But we should hurry up and find him, and make sure he's okay!" James answered, speeding up his pace.

"I hope he's okay... He's our only way back home!" Melanie shouted, looking up into the sky.

There were no clouds in sight, just a clear open blue sky... The sun was beaming down on them, making the place very irritable to walk in. The humidity was starting to make them sweat, and they weren't enjoying this place, not one bit...

"H-Help!" There it was again, his voice called them fourth.

They kept on walking towards the direction, looking everywhere for the small creature. Until Melanie finally recognized his horns! She ran to his body, and she found out that it was covered in sand!

"Hoopa!" Melanie spoke softly, kneeling beside his buried body.

She lifted him up out of the sand, and brushed it off of his horns, as well as the rings attached to his body, until he was fully clean.

"Is he okay?" James asked, finally reaching them.

As soon as he saw the Pokémon, he was amazed by the looks of him! He never expected to see him ever in his life, so he was pretty honored to see him up close!

"Hoopa, are you okay?" Melanie held onto the Pokémon, and he felt pretty light in her arms too.

He wasn't responding back, but she could feel his breathing against her chest. She held him closer to her own body, trying everything she could do to wake him up, but nothing seemed to work. His eyes were closed, and it looked like he was unconscious!

"He's unconscious..." She pointed out, standing back up again.

James examined him some more, and took the time to feel his forehead to see if he was sick. Upon feeling his body temperature, James knew that he had a fever, because his forehead felt very warm.

"He's sick..." James exclaimed, taking his bag off.

"Is he going to be alright?" Melanie asked, wondering what James was going to do next.

He searched through his bag for some medicine to use on Hoopa, until he finally found the perfect bottle to use! It had a green solution inside, and it glowed magically! He took the cap off of the lid of the bottle, and sprayed it on Hoopa's forehead. Upon contact, Hoopa reacted to the spray with a pleasant smile, happily accepting the solution.

"It's a Full Restore, It'll make him feel better in no time." James gave her a smirk, putting the bottle away.

"Oh, okay good! He looks like he's breathing a lot better." Melanie smiled at the legend in her arms, rocking him like a baby.

"Mm..." Hoopa continued smiling, with his eyes still closed, he started breathing just fine, and his body temperature felt normal again.

"Guess we should find a way out of this place now, Alex is probably worried about where we are." James went ahead of her, searching the landscape for any signs of escape.

Then, he stared at Hoopa once more, seeing the rings hanging from his horns. He wanted to grab them, thinking that the rings could bring them back, but all they've been doing so far were just forcing them into these random strange places...

"What if we can find a way to use his rings? Maybe he knows the way to bringing us back to where we found the first ring." James suggested an idea, stepping closer to her.

"I don't know if we should use his rings without his permission, they ARE his after all, plus we don't know how they work, not a lot of people get to meet this Pokémon you know." Melanie sighed in frustration, helping James look around.

"Well, what else are we going to do?" James asked in return, sounding a little disappointed that they couldn't use the rings themselves.

"We wait until he wakes up, he remembers me, I'm sure of it." Melanie sounded confident with her response, remembering the moment when she first gave him a Poké-Puff.

That was until... The two of them stopped moving once they heard a weird cry coming from above. Both of them looked up to see who it was, and it was a tall human-like creature! The creature suddenly fell to the ground, moving the sand around itself...

"Look out!" James shouted, jumping out of the way before the sand could reach him.

Melanie did the same, nearly dropping Hoopa, but she tightened her grip on his body so that he wouldn't fall from her arms. When they looked back to the creature, they looked at it, and gave it a confused look.

"W-What is that thing?" Melanie asked in shock, not recognizing the creature.

"I-I don't know!" James was just as confused as her, looking at it some more.

The creature stood up on it's two legs, and it spoke once more to them... Speaking a weird language that they couldn't understand.

"Phero... Pheromosa..." The creature spoke it's name, sounding very feminine.

"Must be a female..." James whispered to Melanie.

"Yeah, but what the heck is it? It doesn't look like a Pok-" Melanie began talking some more, but the creature stopped her once it took a step closer to them, showing no fear towards the two.

The creature resembled an anthropomorphic, feminine cockroach. She had a thin built body, and it was colored mostly white. She had a segmented body as well, having five segments dividing her torso. She had a long and narrow neck, and a small semicircular face. She had narrow white eyes with a purple iris, and blue pupils. She also had long, thing legs suited for running and kicking if needed, with golden pads at the joints, and her feet consisted of two twig-like structures, rather resembling high-heeled shoes.

"What're you... Two doing here? In my domain?" The creature began to speak in their native language, shocking the two half to death!

"Y-You can talk?" Both of them asked the creature back at the same time, exchanging looks with one another.

"Of course I can, but you still didn't answer my question, what're you two doing here in my realm? Especially with THAT creature you're carrying." Pheromosa pointed her thin arm towards Hoopa, staring at them carefully.

"We were just leaving, we saved Hoopa from whatever this place is, where're we even?" James took one step ahead, trying to act brave.

"You're not fooling me, I was the one who injured that thing... I don't recognize it, OR you two, what're you two supposed to be? I've never seen such creatures ever in my life, especially here..." The Ultra Beast raised her eyebrows, standing straight up tall.

She towered over the both of them, and she looked very intimidating to take on, they had no idea what she was capable of, so they didn't really want to fight it...

"Answer the question first, where ARE we?" Melanie gave her a slight attitude, hanging onto Hoopa tighter than before.

"You're in my homelands, You two aren't from this world are you?" Pheromosa spoke quietly, taking a walk closer to them.

Both Melanie and James stood back in fear, as Pheromosa eventually reached them. She was just a few feet away from touching them, and she had an angry look on her face. The look of being provoked, annoyed even, she was ready to fight them if she needed to.

"Look, we don't mean trouble... We just wanted to help our friend here..." Melanie showed her Hoopa, trusting the Ultra Beast somewhat with her own response.

She didn't want to be rude towards the Ultra Beast, she just wanted to go back home safely...

"You're friends with that thing huh? It interrupted my home by destroying some of the crystals here on the rocks... You have no idea what you got yourselves into... Such interesting beings..." Pheromosa closed her eyes, crossing her arms, acting very lady-like.

"Well, for whatever we say is worth your time... We ask that you forgive him, as well as us for interrupting your home. We really didn't mean to..." Melanie bowed down to the creature, along with James.

They tried the easy way to get out of his situation, being polite to the creature, rather than being rude and starting a fight.

"What's done is done! The penalty... Is DEATH!" Pheromosa screamed at them, charging at them at the speed of light!

 _ **Play Song: (Battle! Ultra Beast - Pokemon Sun & Moon Music Extended: watch?v=NC1hp7eQEtE&t=157s)**_

"Watch out!" James shouted, pushing Melanie out of the way.

She fell to the ground, but never loosened her grip on Hoopa's body. But she looked over at James, and saw his body fly from the impact! He landed onto the sand, without any injuries!

"What's your problem?" James shouted at the beast, getting up and running over to Melanie.

"Pheromo..." The creature spoke simple again like before... Refusing to talk back to them.

He helped Melanie up once again, standing in front of her to confront the creature.

"Do we really have to battle her?" Melanie sighed, annoyed by the creature.

"Apparently so... I'll hold her off, just wake Hoopa up so we can go back home." James explained the plan, pulling out a Pokéball.

"G-Got it!" Melanie stepped back to a safe distance, trying to wake Hoopa up.

As she was doing that, James examined the Ultra Beast some more, watching her every movement.

"You're a fast one huh? Not fast enough!" James smiled, sending out Grovyle.

"Gro!" Grovyle was fully awoken, admiring the environment around him.

As soon as he saw the UB, he shivered oddly, something about the creature gave him a chill down his spine.

"Grovyle, you ready to fight!?" James asked his partner, ready to take on the UB on his own.

"Vyle!" Grovyle nodded his head as an answer, getting into an offensive battle stance.

"Okay perfect! Use Quick Attack!" James started off the battle, commanding the first attack.

"Mosa!" The UB quickly spun around, using the mode Agility!

As soon as the move was finished, she instantly dodged the Quick Attack in the blink of an eye, then she kicked Grovyle! Sending him flying off to another rock with a Rapid Spin!

"Gro!" Grovyle retaliated against the rock, jumping off of it instead of colliding with it!

"You okay?" James asked his Pokémon in worry.

"Grovyle!" Grovyle nodded back once again, jumping up and down in place.

"Good! Use Leaf Blade!" James had another idea in his head, confident that it could work.

Grovyle grew the long sharp blades from his arms, then started running towards Pheromosa as fast as he could.

"Perfect! Now use Quick Attack!" James shouted out his next attack, praying that Grovyle would land the hit on her.

"PHER!" Pheromosa blocked her body with her two narrow arms, creating a shield-like barrier around herself.

Grovyle cut through the barrier, stunning her out of her stance! But without anything else to do next, Pheromosa kicked him high up into the air! Then, she jumped up after him, using Agility again!

"Her speed is intense!" James watched in horror as she finally made it up to Grovyle midair, kicking him down with her other foot!

She sent him deep into the sand, creating a small crater in the ground!

"GROVYLE!" Grovyle screamed in pain, colliding against the sand with his bare back.

"Rom! Mosa!" The UB giggled, acting innocent in front of them all.

Meanwhile, as the fight was happening, Melanie didn't dare to look back at James. She wanted to let him focus, but she tried everything in her power to wake Hoopa up. He never woke up though, not to anything she did! She tried shaking him, but he was still fast asleep...

"C'mon Hoopa! Wake up!" She started talking into his face, shaking him some more.

"Mm?" The facial expression on his face looked somewhat bothered, so he turned himself around and stopped facing her.

"Hoopa?" She asked for him again, turning him back to face her.

"You're tough, very tough." James complimented the Ultra Beast, amazed by her speed as well as her psychical powers.

Just as he said that, Pheromosa shook her head in return, letting out a short cough out from her mouth.

"Give up..." She demanded, crossing her arms.

"I refuse! Grovyle, Mega Drain!" James continued on, seeing Grovyle up from the floor.

He tried to absorb her energy to regain his own, but it just didn't affect her! Once again, she shook her head in disappointment, walking closer to both of them.

"Give up!" She demanded him once again, seeing as if they had already lost the fight.

"Why should I..." James refused to throw in the towel, talking back to the UB.

"Because you stand no chance of winning... Now I suggest you just give up and face the consequence of death." Pheromosa replied, finally reaching him.

And even when he thought she was going to take his life, he heard Melanie trying to wake Hoopa up.

"I have no choice, sorry Hoopa..." Melanie sighed, taking the ring off of his horn.

She stood up and ran back to James, with the ring in her free hand.

"J-James! What're the words to activate the ring?" She wondered, not paying any attention to Pheromosa whatsoever.

"How am I supposed to know?!" He spoke back ignorantly, worried about the UB.

Melanie went ahead and threw the ring out above them, then watched as the ring expanded in size!

"Grovyle return!" James quickly returned his Pokémon, then looked up at the ring.

"Now, you two must face!" Pheromosa grew blade-like sharp claws on her arms and fingers, and proceeded to slash them both with it!

She leaped towards them, ready to attack! But before she could... She missed them and landed on the ground, as they were magically sucked through the ring as soon as she was about to strike them!

"H-Huh?" She gazed at where they used to be, confused about how they ended up disappearing!

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

"WAH!" Melanie shot through the ring, falling to the grass below!

James soon followed after, and was thrown to the floor beside her.

"W-W-What did we say... About us going through at the same time again?" James sighed, getting up from the floor.

He helped her up after she groaned to his response, but then rolled his eyes in return.

"Sorry... Jeez!" She grunted, eventually noticing the ring on the floor.

She picked it up gently, and then placed it onto Hoopa's horn again where it used to be. The place they were at seemed familiar, but it was beginning to get dark out. They were in a forest opening, nothing and no one was in sight, so they felt alone.

"You think this is the forest beside the campgrounds?" James asked her, wondering if they finally made it back home.

"Beats me, but let's just try to find our way back and-" Melanie answered back, but she was cutoff by an unexpected yell!

"HALT!" A man shouted, startling the two.

Both of them turned around to see who it was, and the man looked very weird, dressed in a particular suit that gave them an odd chill.

"Um, hey?" Melanie greeted the guy, wondering what they did.

The man's suit was colored mostly red, and he had pale looking skin as well. His hair was dyed red, just like his suit was, and he was wearing large red glasses too! On the neck collar of the suit, there was an icon that resembled a flare.

"My readings indicated that you two travelled through the rings of Hoopa!" The man looked over at Melanie, and noticed her carrying him.

Melanie held onto Hoopa, while James had a Pokéball out just in case... Something about this guy didn't feel right, so they didn't trust him, not one second.

"Give me that Pokémon, we've been looking everywhere for it! And I finally found it, I caught you both here! Hand it over, and no one gets hurt." The man demanded for the Pokémon, pulling out an Ultra Ball!

"No way, don't even think about it!" James stood up by Melanie's side, trying to get the man to go away.

"You know, I don't want to trouble you kids... Mostly because the boss likes you, but we have a thing that runs in Team Flare... And that thing is what you're doing right now. Refusing to listen to us, you must pay the price! Hand it over this instant!" The grunt frowned, growing an angry expression all over his face.

"Never! Get lost! Whoever you are!" Melanie yelled at the grunt some more, without the idea of who he was talking about.

James didn't know either, but he sent out Zorua to the battle! Out came Zorua, already disguised as Grovyle!

"Grovyle!" Zorua mimicked the voice, perfectly matching it too!

"Fine! If that's how you wanna play it!" The Team Flare Grunt threw the Ultra Ball into the air, bringing out a Garchomp!

 _ **Play Song: (Battle! Team Flare - Pokemon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=zkWMvlqTVd0)**_

"Gaaarr!" The Dragon Type Pokémon roared, scaring Melanie a tad bit.

"Dig." The grunt groaned, annoyed that he had to fight someone.

Garchomp dug his own way underground, using his large claws, and within seconds, he was gone out of sight! James knew the move, so he knew Zorua could concentrate well on where Garchomp is.

"Close your eyes, focus..." He whispered over to his Pokémon, and Zorua listened to him.

With his own eyes closed, he could sense the shaking within the ground, and he could tell where Garchomp was! He jumped out of the way before Garchomp could hit him with the move!

"Garchomp!" The Dragon Type rushed out of the ground, looking around for Zorua.

"Use Dark Pulse!" James commanded, watching Zorua fire the move from behind his opponent!

"Gro-VYLE!" Zorua launched the dark sphere towards Garchomp, aiming straight to his head!

When Garchomp turned around, the move had struck him in the face, stunning him temporarily! It gave Zorua another chance to attack!

"Alright! Now use Dark Pulse again!" James took the opportunity, telling him the same move.

"Gro!" Zorua continued mimicking the voice, firing the Pulse once more!

However, Garchomp had already fixed himself! He looked up at the move, and then deflected it right back using his claws! The move flew back so fast, that it hit Zorua instantly! The attack caused Zorua to lose his form, and he returned back to his normal self again, landing in front of the grunt. Garchomp was on James' side, and Zorua was on the other. The grunt took the chance to examine Zorua, while James did the same back to Garchomp.

"I see, so it was a Zorua all along." The grunt gave James a dirty look, holding another Pokéball in his hand.

The Pokéball was a Dusk Ball, but James has never seen it before. He watched as the grunt threw the Pokéball at Zorua, taking him by surprise!

"Zorua!" James shouted his Pokémon's name.

"What?" Melanie watched the entire thing, giving up on trying to wake Hoopa.

"Zor!?" Zorua turned back around and the Pokéball sucked him up!

The Pokéball fell to the ground, shaking a couple of times! While Garchomp nodded his head at the grunt.

"You two are coming with me, Garchomp!" The grunt gave the Dragon a hand signal.

The Pokémon turned to the two, staring at them angrily.

"GAR!" He was ready to attack them both, about to take Hoopa from them.

"Zorua!" James shouted his name again, and tried running to the Pokéball.

However, the ball didn't open! It just stood still!

"Why isn't he coming back out? Don't you own him? Other Pokéballs shouldn't work!" Melanie touched his shoulder, trying to comfort him in the moment.

"Garchomp stepped in front of him, stopping him from going to the Pokéball.

The grunt smiled, and picked up the Dusk Ball. It didn't open, and it didn't signify that Zorua was caught either, something was wrong!

"What'd you do?" James yelled, trying desperately to save his Pokémon.

He nearly made it past Garchomp, but the Dragon Type used Flame Thrower, and blocked his path with fire!

"Run!" Melanie screamed, making a break for it.

"I-I can't leave him!" James shouted at her, trying to get her to stay.

"CHOMP!" Garchomp was ready to pounce James, but just before he could, James followed after Melanie, avoiding the creature.

When they finally made it to a safe distance from the grunt, they found a huge bush to hide in, so that the Garchomp wouldn't find them.

"We could've beaten him on our own! I need to go back! Zorua is still trapped in that ball!" James went to exit the bush, but Melanie pulled him back.

"Stop! Don't move!" Melanie stopped him, as they heard a dark growl.

By then, it was pitch black outside... They couldn't see anything at all... But they heard growling close by.

"Gaaar..." It was Garchomp, and he was rustling through each bush, searching for them.

"We can't risk being seen, for Hoopa's sake. We don't know who that guy is, or who he works for... He could be an Aether spy or something!" Melanie whispered, trying to stay quiet.

"How would we know? If he was apart of Aether, he would've worn white and gold, as well as their emblem." James replied.

The rustling in the bushes stopped, and they kept quiet for a while longer. They heard Garchomp's footsteps walking away from them, until they finally thought it was safe to talk again. James on the other hand was only worried about Zorua, who knows what the grunt did to him...

"H-How'd he even... Get sucked into that ball?" He mumbled to himself, but Melanie heard him anyway.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened... It was my fault that we had to leave him behind... I just don't want Hoopa taken away, he's a legendary... Who knows what that man could've done with his power." Melanie apologized, feeling bad for Zorua.

"Don't worry about it... I would've done the same thing, but still... I need to go look for him right away!" James tried standing up from the bush, but Melanie pulled him back down.

"And what would happen if that Garchomp catches you huh? What if you get kidnapped from that guy? Then you'll probably never see us again! I can't risk losing a friend like you, please don't go!" She grabbed his hand, and dragged him back down.

He felt bad for her, but he also felt bad for Zorua. It all depended on who mattered most to him, her or him... How could he choose between the two?

"How can I choose between you two? I have Grovyle and Fletchinder by my side, if you want to come with me... Be my guest, but I need to go and find him again, he's been there for me ever since the start..." James felt the need to cry, but rubbed his own eyes gently so that the tears would go away.

That was when they felt more rustling in the bush beside them, there were small footsteps coming their way, and they prepared for whoever it was about to be. They expected it to be Garchomp, or even a wild Pokémon!

"Who's there?" James asked, demanding an answer.

"Zorua!" Zorua immediately came jumping out of the bushes, and landed straight into his arms!

"Zorua!" James laughed, hugging him to death.

He didn't let go of him for a second, and was reunited with him!

"I thought he would've taken you for himself to keep! I was so worried about you!" James hugged the Dark Type even tighter, squeezing the life out of him.

"Zoo... Raaaa!" Zorua began suffocating from the tight hug, making a funny facial expression from the pain.

"You're choking him dude!" Melanie warned him, causing James to loosen his grip.

"Ru... *sigh*" Zorua sighed in relief, but still continued to hug James.

Together, the two eventually finished reuniting with one another, then James started asking him all of these random questions you'd normally expect to hear.

"You're okay right?" James finally finished asking him stuff, and Zorua simply nodded in return as an answer.

"Zorua!" The Pokémon licked him across his face, then climbed to rest on the back of his shoulder.

"We have to get back to the cabin, before that guy comes back!" Melanie spoke quickly, jumping out of the bush with Hoopa still in her arms.

"Yeah, Zorua! Do you think you can find our way back?" James asked, watching as Zorua looked around the forest.

For being a Dark Type, he could easily see in the dark, so he had a big advantage.

"Zor!" He pointed his paw into the direction, and the two Trainers walked as fast as they could, hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with anyone else.

When they finally made it to the end of the forest path, they saw the cabins far in sight! That was until...

"*FLASH!*" All of a sudden bright lights blinded their vision, appearing from every angle!

"Stop right where you are and surrender!" A familiar voice commanded them.

Both Melanie and James stood still, frozen in fear! The lights eventually faded down, and they could slightly see who it was!

"N-No! Not you again!" Melanie groaned in anger, looking up to the group of people.

"You thought you could run away from us huh?" Mark came from the spotlight, along with his other Aether workers.

 _ **Play Song: (Pokemon Sun & Moon OST - Aether Paradise 1 Theme Extended: watch?v=bdOVfos4kis)**_

"It's... Aether!?" James shouted in surprise, not expecting them to suddenly appear at a time like this!

"We got you right where we want you, Melanie and James was it? Where's your third buddy at? Alex?" Mark tapped his chin just a bit, before looking at his wrist.

There was something attached to it, almost like a microphone.

"Faba, I got them! Along with a special Pokémon as well!" Mark eventually noticed Hoopa in her arms, and the rest of the Aether workers proceeded to surround them.

"Go ahead..." Faba's voice came from Mark's wrist gadget, and he didn't sound too happy either...

"Just let us go!" Melanie screamed at them, also noticing a worker behind Mark.

It was the same girl again, Emily! The one who tried to warn them about running away from them! Emily shook her head in disappointment, and Melanie realized it just now...

"We should've kept going... We should've never stopped at this camp..." Melanie sighed, dropping to her knees.

James joined her, and he had his hands up after noticing weapons in the guard's hands.

"Y-You can't shoot us!" James yelled, looking at the workers.

"Don't worry, they're not filled with bullets, they're just sleep darts! I might as well make it quick before you bring that little Vulpix out!" Mark stepped closer to the two, looking down at the two younger teens.

"You're not getting her, no matter how much you try to take her away from me... Like I told you guys before! She's living a much happier life than back at your psychotic labs!" Melanie tried to argue with him, but no matter what she said, it couldn't get through to his brain.

"Mm..." Hoopa's voice started to mumble through the cold wind... And he was slowly waking up from the loud sounds they were creating.

"Hoopa?" Melanie looked down at the mythical Pokémon, shaking him slightly.

He finally revealed those emerald colored eyes, and stared up at her.

"M-Melanie?" He whispered, before holding onto her tighter.

"Hoopa! You're awake!" Melanie smiled, holding him in return.

She ignored Mark, as well as everyone else... Right now, she only focused on him!

"W-W-Where am I? Is this..." Hoopa looked around, spotting the Aether workers around them!

He was startled once they came into his eyesight, so he flew up and looked around at each of them individually.

"Aether!" He mumbled with an angry growl, staring down Mark intensely.

"Hehehe! You're finally awake huh? You missed a lot!" Mark chuckled evilly, holding a purple ball in his hand.

James looked at the ball, and froze up upon seeing it! The ball was purple on the top half of the sphere, and the bottom of it was white, just like a normal Pokéball! Except, there were two red dots on the top sides, along with a letter labeled 'M' on the center!

"T-That's a-" James tried pointing it out, but Mark answered his question already.

"A Master Ball! Good eye!" Mark smiled in return, tossing the ball up and down confidently.

"N-No!" Hoopa hovered back, hiding behind James and Melanie in fear.

"You three make a single movement... And Hoopa stays trapped in this ball for all eternity! It won't fail, that's for sure! Now, let's safely return back to the labs! You two are going to be rotting in the cells, along with Lillie!" Mark continued laughing, sounding exactly like Faba.

"Is that what you did to her? You put her in a CELL?!" Melanie screamed at him, desperately wanting to punch the life out of him.

"Of course we did! It was the only way! Now if you'll excuse me, I better start making the cells a bit more uncomfortable for you two! I'll even force you to watch Vulpix suffer!" Faba spoke through the gadget again.

Mark pushed a couple of buttons on the device, until Faba's face appeared on a large holographic screen! He looked serious, but a smirk grew on his face when he saw the three of them looking quite frightened.

"Well well well, if it isn't the thief, and her know it all friend! Where's the other one now?" Faba asked in wonder, quickly shrugging his own question off.

"Gr! When I get my hands on you-" Melanie growled at him furiously, but he already started cutting her off.

"You what? You can't do nothing against me, you two have gotten yourselves into quite the problem... Not only are you two outlaws from our view, but you nearly escaped with Nebby, and I can't forgive you for doing that. You don't know how important Nebby is, or Vulpix is to the president, they're two powerful Pokémon! The power inside of her needs to be reduced, she was born with WAY too much power, you see..." Faba continued walking in his own little lab room, showing them around the place.

Melanie and James looked carefully in the room, until they spotted Nebby, locked up in a metal cage, looking cold, alone, and scared of Faba.

"C-Coos!" Nebby cried, frowning in sadness.

"Don't you dare lay a single finger on him Faba!" Melanie shouted, standing up to tackle Mark.

"DON'T MOVE!" The Aether Workers demanded her to stop in place, pointing the guns at her a second time.

Only this time, someone walked up to her, and pushed her to the ground, causing her to fall on top of James!

"Ouch, that looks like it hurt! I'm only going to tell you this once, so you both listen up carefully! It might even be the last time you two see the outside world! Once we capture you both, OHOHOH You'll both get it from the president, you hear me? We need that Vulpix safely returned to the president, and old Nebby here isn't going to be harmed by such a thing either! He's the key to opening the wormholes that we dream of exploring and studying the creatures that inhabit their world! We got reasons from this location that you two have been travelling through rings that Hoopa caused! One of those rings showed us data on an Ultra Beast! Perhaps, you two were stuck in the Ultra World?" Faba came closer to the screen, widening his eyes.

"I-I..." Hoopa couldn't find the words, but he took a deep breath anyway.

"Spare them! Just t-take me instead! I was the reason I opened up a portal to their world! I had specific orders... To track one down... But I... I didn't have enough power to beat it... Melanie... Other friend... Hoopa's sorry for this... Just take me..." Hoopa hung his head in shame, feeling bad that he got them into this mess.

"Oh, it's too late for apologizing! First things first, let me see the Vulpix!" Faba demanded, raising the tone of his voice.

"Hoopa... Don't worry about it, it's okay..." Melanie mumbled back to the ring Pokémon, pulling out Vulpix's ball.

She forcefully sent Vulpix out, and she formed into herself on the ground in front of everyone.

"Vul?" Vulpix stretched her legs, as well as her tail, yawning from being awoken out of her nap.

But once she opened her eyes, she gasped in total shock.

"VUL!?" She looked all around herself, seeing all the Aether Workers surrounding her.

"Don't think about freezing us!" Mark shouted, calling out another Pokémon by his side.

This time, the Pokémon he called out was a the legendary Pokémon Heatran!

"Heatraaaaan!" The Pokémon roared it's name out, with magma boiling inside of it's mouth.

"You gotta be joking me..." James sighed, not expecting them to own any Legendary Pokémon.

"H-Heatran? T-They got you?" Hoopa wanted to fly over to the Fire Type, but he noticed something odd about him...

Heatran was wearing a gold and white plated helmet, one that resembled Aether's uniforms... Was he being mind controlled by them? Hoopa couldn't believe it himself, but the anger was building inside of him.

"You try freezing any of us, and we'll fire these darts at you, regardless! We only wanted to see you!" Mark examined Vulpix some more, watching her sweat nervously.

She looked up at Melanie, and tears formed in her eyes...

"V-Vulpix... I'm sorry..." Melanie felt the need to cry, watching as Vulpix was being picked up by Mark.

"V-Vul!" Vulpix tried shaking her way free, however...

"ZAP!" One of the Aether Workers shot her with the darts, causing her to faint instantly!

"VULPIX!" Melanie screamed her name out, hearing Faba and Mark laughing in the background.

She let the tears go down her face... Thinking they were in a hole they couldn't get themselves out of... They would have to live in the Foundation, and nobody knew where they were at either... Alex wasn't there to save them, and Hoopa couldn't do anything either!

"Relax, she's only asleep! Like I said, maybe you'll get the chance to visit her again sometime in the lab! Maybe I'll put you two with Lillie, and even take away the bed as punishment! You'll all have to sleep on the floor from now on! Enjoy your lives living behind bars! I have every right to do so." Faba smirked, noticing the tears down their faces.

Two more guards eventually grabbed their bags away from them, opening them up quickly!

"H-Hey! That's personal stuff! You don't have the right to search through our bags!" James shouted angrily, getting up to run towards the guard.

As soon as he got up though... Another Aether employee shot him in the neck, making him unconscious in a split second! He dropped to the floor, right next to Melanie... Seeing this made her cry... She couldn't do anything about this... Nothing at all... Her life would be over at this point...

"Lillie... Nebby... Vulpix... Hoopa... And now James..." Melanie sobbed, hiding her tears from everyone watching her on the ground, helpless.

"I'm not fond of making children like you cry... It's shameful isn't it? Now you're beginning to learn your lesson, next time... Don't steal from the Aether Foundation..." Faba let out an evil chuckle, as Aether Guards grabbed her by the arms.

The two guards lifted her up on their own, and Hoopa simply hovered next to her. Just as soon as he could get the chance to try and attempt something... Two more guards put electric handcuffs on him, which restrained him of doing anything at all!

"H-HEY! N-Not so tight!" Hoopa complained, looking at his two hands painfully.

"Y-You guys really ARE evil... I can't believe you guys would do such a thing to us... Let alone Pokémon that suffer in your labs... You guys deserve to be punished instead of us!" Melanie spat at hologram, but her spit just flew through it like it was nothing.

"Like I said... Maybe if you would've just handed us the Vulpix earlier, then you wouldn't have to go through this, she isn't yours... Even though you caught her in a Pokéball, you weren't the one who found her. We found her first, and she's been with us ever since she hatched from her egg. Besides the point, you STOLE her from us, so technically... This is all YOUR fault! Don't worry, at least Lillie will have some company! Oh! And by the way! Did you honestly think you'd be safe this whole time?" Faba wondered, asking her in curiosity.

"Y-Yeah... I thought we WERE safe this entire time..." Melanie admitted, being dragged closer to the screen by the guards.

"I knew it, I knew that you would! We'll be keeping Hoopa awake, but as for you... It's lights out! Proceed on Mark! I expect I'll see you tomorrow hm?" Faba smiled, waving at Mark confidently.

"Heheheh, yes, you will see us by tomorrow! That's the plan. COMMENCE!" Mark ordered the guards to get on with it.

The holographic screen disappeared, as Faba hung up the call with another one of his psychotic laughs. Melanie looked up at Mark, still holding onto Vulpix.

"V-Vulpix... Hoopa!" Melanie looked above herself and saw Hoopa looking down at her.

He had a saddened look on his face, and he watched as the guard shot her with the dart. Her vision was growing blurry... Then suddenly, everything went black for her... As she was put into a deep sleep...

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

 ** _Play Song: (Pokemon Sun & Moon OST - HeaHea City (Night) Theme Extended: watch?v=pzO9pbXZNwU)_**

It was late at night, and who would it be... Alex of course! He was too busy focused on hanging out with Jessica, when in reality... He didn't know about Melanie and James, and what they got themselves into...

"Looks beautiful huh?" Jessica smiled, moving her hair aside behind her ear, just like Melanie would do from time to time.

"Yeah, it sure is!" Alex smiled in return, feeling her step closer to his body.

The two of them looked up to the stars above in the night sky, it was truly remarkable to look at! Each star twinkled brightly, giving the camp a beautiful atmosphere to be in. She was nice to him, and he was nice to her in return. Something about her being just as beautiful as Melanie made him think more about his close friend...

"Melanie..." He thought to himself, remembering what happened last night.

He remembered her running out of their little ''Dinner Date''... Which upset him a little, but he didn't really let it get to him until this very point. His heart was pounding next to Jessica for some reason, something about her made him feel... Fuzzy, and nice on the inside.

"She probably didn't feel the same for me... That's probably why she left so suddenly like that, almost faking it too..." He sighed, looking down at the beach's sand.

"Hey, you okay?" Jessica asked, looking over to him.

She saw the depressed look on his face, and decided to put an arm around his shoulder for comfort.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about important stuff, you know how it goes..." That same smile formed on his face again, as he blushed from the contact she made with him.

"Good, I care about my new friends you know." She grinned happily, sounding confident with her response.

"Yeah, I'm sure you really do." He blushed even more, taking the opportunity to grab her hand.

Together, the two of them held each other's hands, both blushing just as equally as the other... Alex's heart felt warm, but then he also felt a bit of guilt... Who's heart did his really belong to? Jessica, or Melanie? He thought about it more, as he remembered all the times he was with Melanie since the start of his journey. The laughs they shared, that night he told her about showcases being her new dream to conquer, he comforted her whenever she felt worried about encountering Aether.

"Maybe I should just..." Alex thought more about her, as he noticed Jessica moving closer to his body.

She rested her head on top of his shoulder, pulling him into a soft, warm hug.

"You always say the nicest things Alex, I think we'll be really good friends with each other!" Jessica sounded very happy, closing her eyes and treasuring this moment with him.

"Me too!" He laughed nervously, she only reminded him of Melanie as of now...

Something still didn't feel right though, what was he doing? His heart belonged to Melanie's! He pushed her off of his own shoulder, feeling bad about doing this...

"Look, I know what you're thinking... But we just met..." He replied softly, not trying to hurt her feelings in any way.

"O-Oh!?" She sounded pretty upset with her reply, the sudden change in her voice clearly gave it away.

"I'm not trying to be mean or anything! I just think we need more time to get to know each other more! You get what I'm saying? *Sigh* I should get some rest, I'm gonna head back to the cabins okay? I'll talk to you tomorrow?" He waved goodbye, feeling a whole lot better about turning her down.

"Oh... T-That's okay... I'll see you tomorrow then, Alex." She frowned, looking to the boardwalk pathway ahead of them.

He left her alone, and kind of felt bad for her... But at the same time, he knew Melanie longer than her...

"I... I need to make my move with her! Even if she doesn't feel the same way..." He clenched his fists, before running to the cabin to see her again.

He was thinking about several things to do with her, feeling kind of excited for his plan with her! He came up with the perfect date with her! Planning it out carefully, step by step, as he headed his way back to their own cabin.

 _ **And now...**_

 _ **Play Song: (Pokemon Sun & Moon OST - Aether Paradise 1 Theme Extended: watch?v=bdOVfos4kis)**_

"WAKE UP!" Faba screamed at her, startling the life outta her!

"WHA!?" Lillie panicked, falling out of her own bed and face planted into the hard metal floor below...

"Hehe..." Faba chuckled at her, watching as she helped herself up from the floor.

"Jeez... What is it now Faba?" She gave him a dirty look, refusing to look him in the eye.

"I see that you made a friend?" Faba stopped smiling, staring at the Pichu sound asleep on her pillow!

"P-Please don't take him away... You've already done enough to me... It's the least you can do!" She got on her knees, and prayed to Arceus that he wouldn't do anything to the poor Pichu in her cell.

"Fine, you have my promise." Faba shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care, putting his arms behind his back in a fancy manner.

"Really? Cause every time you promised me something, you ended up breaking it anyway!" Lillie raised her eyebrow, standing up to guard the Pichu from him.

"I'm pretty sure we drained all of the electricity from the Electric Types here, they shouldn't be able to do a single thing around here, not with those shock collars on their necks... Besides, you can keep it! It's a weak Pokémon anyway! By the way, you'll have some visitors joining you tomorrow, so I suggest you try and make as much room as possible." He chuckled some more, walking off to the elevator in the room.

"W-What do you mean visitors?! FABA!" She ran to the bars, holding onto them desperately wanting an answer from him.

"I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise, I really wanna savor the moment and see your reaction when you find out who it is..." Faba left her off with that, finally leaving her to herself.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, shaking her head back and fourth. She was still angry at him for putting her in this small tight cell, but what could she do?

"I have to find a way to escape..." She felt confident after saying that, willing to do everything in order to leave the place.

 _ **And...**_

Meanwhile... Our group of heroes were being dragged by the Aether Workers, restless, they were still unconscious of course, the only one who was awake was Hoopa, and he felt terrible for what he caused.

"A-Arceus... I'm sorry I couldn't defeat the creature on my own... Without my powers, I can't do anything but teleport things!" He thought to himself, and looked around at the other workers.

They weren't paying much attention to him, as he was constrained by the cuffs they forcefully put on him. They hurt whenever he moved an inch, and the more he moved, the tighter the cuffs were.

"Psst!" A voice whispered from behind, he lowered his flying speed just a bit and turned around to see Emily waving at him.

"Huh?" He slowly walked with her, behind the rest of the workers.

"Look, I'm gonna help you get out, you can trust me, promise!" She crossed her heart, and showed him her freehand.

Using his psychic powers, he knew that she was telling the truth, so he smiled in return, giggling quietly.

"What will Hoopa do?" Hoopa asked her, whispering back into her ear.

"You got those rings right? Do you think you could teleport all of us back to the labs? You know that building right?" Emily replied, thinking of a plan.

"Yes, Hoopa remembers! But... I only have three rings! They aren't enough for ALL of these people!" Hoopa sighed, disappointed about himself being powerless.

"You never got the powers from the Prison Bottle back?" She tilted her head, oddly staring at him.

"N-No... Not since a loooong time ago, the bottle is hidden somewhere where Pokémon can't enter... There's some sort of barrier surrounding it! My master told me WAAAY ago, that I should never get my powers back. I believed him, and I learned to be myself in this form, but I can't do much since my powers were decreased ever since... The bottle, makes me feel... Evil when I have that much power, it took control of me." Hoopa explained more about his background story in the past, getting an amused look from her next.

"Well, three rings should be enough? There's Mark, um... nine other workers too, including myself... Three people per ring? And maybe try to fit Mark in it too!" Emily suggested, giving Hoopa more ideas.

"Hoopa likes plan!" Hoopa nodded in agreement, but he was still frowning as he looked down at his handcuffs.

"I'll go get the key from Mark! Don't worry about it one bit!" Emily whistled a happy tune, and Hoopa just stared at her in awe as she made her way past each of the guards, and walked beside Mark.

"Hiya!" She greeted him using her annoying girly voice, and she could tell he was already sick of her!

"Go away, you weren't much help during this job." He told her coldly, not daring to look at her.

"Oh, don't be so edgy about it! You and Faba are always serious about stuff like this! Learn to let loose! We got them didn't we? I think it's a cause to celebrate!" As much as she hated to say that, it was the only way to force a sly smirk on his face.

She patted him on the back, then quickly reached into his lab coat to grab the key for the cuffs! Luckily, she managed to pull them out without anyone noticing, and she stuffed them into her pocket!

"Don't touch me..." Mark went back into his greedy mood, walking away from her.

"Okay!" She waved at him, then she slowed her pace a bit so that she could return to Hoopa.

Once she reached him, she heard him giggle adorably, and she twirled the key around her finger, victoriously.

"How did girl do that?" Hoopa asked, continuing to chuckle some more.

"Easy, they're kind of stupid... Haha!" Emily laughed, using the key to open the cuffs from his hand.

"Y-yes! Thanks uh..." Hoopa wanted to learn her name.

"Emily, now go and do your work! But... Make sure you grab Vulpix from them, as well as their bags!" Emily told him what to do next, going ahead with their plan.

"Okay!" Hoopa hovered above them all, taking the two rings off of his horn.

He also grabbed the third ring from his waist, and he was ready to throw them at any moment! He nodded at Emily, and then she gave him a thumbs up, coming up with the best possible distraction for the workers! Within the second Hoopa threw the rings, Emily screamed at the top of her lungs, stopping everyone in their tracks! Each of the workers turned around to face her, even Mark as well!

"What is it?" Mark asked, looking around their surroundings.

"ALLAY! HOOPAA RIIING! GO RINGS!" Hoopa shouted, throwing each of the rings over the large group.

Emily ran towards the two workers with their bags, and quickly pushed them to the ground, then she made sure to grab them. Once she finally got a hold of the bags, the workers were so startled that they dropped Melanie and James! Hoopa flew on down and snatched Vulpix right out of Mark's arms!

"WHAAT!? EVERYONE FOCUS FIRE NOW!" Mark ordered the workers to shoot at Hoopa.

However, Hoopa was too fast for the darts to hit him! He flew away with Vulpix in his arms, running with Emily! When they reached a safe distance, Hoopa then shouted out,

"TRANSPORT TO SINNOH!" He laughed evilly, watching as each of the rings grew big in size!

Before the workers could react, the rings swallowed them up whole, including Mark!

"GRAAH! EMIL-" He shouted her name, but the ring cut him off before he could finish!

As soon as all of the Aether Workers were completely transported, the rings returned to their normal size, and then they magically returned back to Hoopa's body! Together, Emily and Hoopa gave each other high fives, and then they went back to Melanie and James, waiting for them to wake up.

"Looks like the plan worked out! Now quickly... Follow me!" Emily motioned him to follow her.

Leaving Vulpix, as well as the bags next to the two Trainer's bodies, Hoopa quickly flew over to join her. When he did, she pushed some bushes around and revealed the Summer Camp in the distance! She pointed towards one of the cabins, and Hoopa looked at it.

"What's that?" He asked her, still curious as ever.

"See that cabin all the way over to the left! See if you can transport all of us inside of there, okay?" Emily smiled, walking back to Melanie and James.

"Okay! Hoopa can do that!" Hoopa giggled, flying back to them.

"ALLAY HOOPA RING!" He threw one ring up above them all, and pretty soon... They were all magically transported through the ring at the speed of light!

 _ **Back to the main character!**_

 _ **Play Song: (Pokemon Sun & Moon OST - Seafolk Village (Night) Music Extended: **_**_watch?v=c7KuvV4PTGQ &t=949s)_**

"Hey guys! I-" Alex finally made it back to the cabin, but once he made it inside... He didn't seem to find any of them!

"Guys?" He looked around, closing the door behind him.

Again, no response... But then all of a sudden-

"WAAAAH!" Emily shrieked as she fell through a golden ring out of nowhere!

"H-Huh? Emily?" Alex was beyond shocked, next he saw two bags falling out, Vulpix, as well as Melanie, James, and even Hoopa!

They were all piled up next to each other, and Hoopa quickly returned the ring back onto his body.

"Is that?" Alex looked up at the mythical legendary.

Upon seeing his reaction, Hoopa giggled as he flew down to Alex.

"Guess! Guess!" Hoopa laughed, flying around Alex's head.

"Are you, Hoopa?" Alex asked in surprise, happy to meet the Legendary Pokémon for the first time!

"Yup yup! You got it correct! Hehehe!" Hoopa giggled, smiling at Alex.

Both of them were very friendly in a way, that the two of them knew they would get along well!

"Ugh... W-Wha?" Melanie started waking back up again, and James soon followed.

"Uh..." He opened his eyes slightly, looking around the room.

"You two good?" Alex asked, walking to both of his best friends.

"Y-Y-Yeeah? Huh? Where're we?" Melanie asked, waking up immediately!

The sleeping darts wore off! They were fully awake now!

"Where's Aether?" James shouted, standing up!

"Relax, we're all safe... We're back at the cabin! Hoopa transported us all here." Emily explained, trying to get them to understand.

"Oh?" All three friends looked at them.

Hoopa and Emily were together, and they began telling them what had happened.

"Wait, before you start... Can you tell us how you found out what our cabin was?" James asked her out of thought, curious.

"Oh, no offense or anything, but I kind of just chilled out in the forest while my evil co-workers were stuck in Reflection Cave. I kind of just saw you three, and then the rest just happened..." Emily answered, laughing to herself.

"You couldn't warn us sooner about them?" Melanie asked, holding onto Vulpix tightly.

By then, Vulpix was already awake... But she was so tired that she fell back asleep instantly. Before Emily decided to tell them the story, everyone agreed on bringing out all of their Pokémon, so that they could all gain the knowledge about what happened.

"Okay... So..." Emily began telling them everything that happened.

Each and every single one of their Pokémon were all listening very carefully for what she had to say. Most, if not... All of them were staring back and fourth between her and Hoopa!

"Hiya!" Hoopa waved at them all, mimicking Emily from earlier.

 _ **Moments later...**_

As soon as Emily finished telling the story, there was only one emotion felt in every single Pokémon's heart... Anger... Revenge...

"Those Aether jerks are going to pay! How long until they reach us again?" Alex asked, looking at Emily.

"Hoopa sent them to Sinnoh! They're far now!" Hoopa giggled like a child yet again, with Emily joining him.

"They should leave you guys alone for quite a bit... But by the time they come back, don't expect them to just attack you dead on as soon as possible. They're very sneaky, especially Mark... He's probably extremely mad right now... So he'd probably get the entire Aether Foundation to hunt the three of you down! And probably me too. *sigh* Hopefully it was worth it..." Emily sighed, worried for them as well as herself.

"Well... I guess we can all just relax then, and continue on with our journeys together, getting stronger along the way!" Alex smiled, looking at everyone else in the room.

All of them nodded in agreement, and they knew it deep down that they would have to fight them back again.

 _ **Many moments later...**_

By then, It was really dark out, and it was pretty late at night too. All of the Pokémon returned to their balls, and everyone was asleep, except for Hoopa, Emily, Melanie, and Alex!

"Where're you going?" Melanie asked Emily as she was fixing herself to leave the cabin.

"I have to go... I'll be fine, trust me!" Emily bounced right out, closing the door before they could say their goodbyes!

"O-Okay then... Bye?" Alex waved her off, but they were still thankful for her regardless.

The three of them kept quiet so that they wouldn't wake James up. With the day they had, they needed some rest for the rest of the week. Hoopa on the other hand was simply laying on one of the beds, minding his own business, so it just left Alex and Melanie alone to themselves. Hoopa decided that it'd be best to stay with them for the night, so that they could protect him if they needed to.

"Hey Melanie..." Alex rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yeah?" Both of them were in their pajamas, and the two of them blushed lightly together.

"I-I was wondering if you wanted uh... If you wanted to join me to look at the stars outside of the balcony?" Alex offered, holding his hand out towards her.

"O-Oh um! Sure!" She sounded happy, blushing hard as she grabbed her hand with his.

He eventually led her outside of the cabin, and the two of them stood by the balcony's fence outside, looking up at the heavenly stars above!

"Beautiful huh?" Melanie smiled, looking at the twinkling stars.

"Y-Yeah! They really are!" He blushed, taking a deep breath.

"Hey... About that um... Dinner thing we had last night, did you really feel sick?" He wondered about what happened, because it happened so fast that night.

Melanie blushed red as a tomato, before looking him straight in the eye. She took a deep breath just like he did, then decided to tell him the truth.

"Ever since we've met... I've... I didn't know what to say or do that night, because it was like we... Were on a d-d-date!" She looked at the ground next, embarrassed to continue looking at him.

"So... D-Does that mean?" He proceeded on with the question, wanting to know the truth from her.

"Y-Yeah... I guess it does, I've had a crush on you for a while now okay?!" She finally got it out, turning around.

She was going to cry at first, because she left him silent after she got those words out. Her heart was pounding, and she had the feeling as if he didn't feel the same.

"Hey... Look at me." He softly touched her cheek with his own hand, turning her head around so that she could face him again.

"I... I-" She couldn't find the words, as she was already embarrassed enough as it was.

"I, I feel the same way..." He admitted it back, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"H-Huh?" She gasped in shock, not expecting that from him.

"You heard me..." He blushed in return, equal to hers!

Their hearts raced together, as they knew they had feelings for each other! Together, the two of them embraced one another, sharing a long, warm hug!

"I've always, had a c-crush on you ever since that night at the hotel we stayed at." He smiled at her, feeling so relieved.

"You d-did?" She asked innocently, hugging him tighter.

He nodded in return, hanging onto her with both of his arms. He refused to let her go, and the two of them grew closer together.

"I could say the same thing back." She let out her beautiful giggle, making him enjoy the moment even more.

The stars in the sky were perfect, it really made them feel special. Whenever they were together, they would feel awkward for one another, but now that they each know the truth... It only brought a meaningful new relationship to the team!

"Wanna head back inside?" He asked her, seeing as it was very late out at night.

"W-Wait, let's just... Stay here." She smiled widely at him, resting her head on his torso.

She sighed lovingly, and hugged him even tighter. Nothing could ruin this moment, nothing at all. It was beyond words! Captivating even! The two lover's heart's bonded together as one, and both of them enjoyed the moment greatly! After sitting there for a while, they eventually fell asleep, still embracing each other. The night was good, and everything returned back to normal! That is, if you counted it being normal again! Hoopa fell asleep on the bed, and everyone was excited for the new week ahead of them!


	19. Teaser

"So, what're your plans, now that you're officially "Mates" with one another?" Zorua nudged the nervous eon Pokemon on the scruff of his neck, making him blush in embarrassment.

Eevee hesitated in response, snickering at him, he raised his eyebrows in surprise as one thing came to mind...

"W-Wait, does that mean we have to..." Eevee stuttered, his heart was throbbing!

"Yes, you're gonna get married right?" Zorua smiled, laying flat on his belly lazily.

As soon as that word came out, Eevee couldn't handle himself... He was blushing red-hard, and his face was very appealing to see! He choked hard on the pellet he was chewing on, and eventually coughed it out, hitting Zorua on the ear! Zorua panicked, feeling grossed out by what he just witnessed, meanwhile... Vulpix was sitting there beside Eevee, taking a nap on his fluffy scruffy neck!

"Can we even have marriages like that? Isn't that a human thing?" Eevee was still nervous, thinking about the rest of his life with Vulpix.

"Well, let's see... You know it deep down you wanna get married with her, so just get married! Propose to her, if humans can do it, so can we! Alex and Melanie are together, you and Vulpix spend so much time together, that everyone else in the group is starting to get a little awkward around you two. Plus, you DO have a good point, she has the power to freeze the entire "Alola Region!" Zorua chuckled, rolling onto his backside.

Together, the three of them were lying in the soft Alolan grass beside the beach! The tropical breeze felt really good on their fur, it was Vulpix's home region!

"Okay fine... If you insist... But even if I do, you'll be the only one attending to the wedding..." Eevee sighed in sadness, dropping his ears.

Zorua did the same thing too, showing a face of depression...

"I miss them..." He sighed, playing with a pebble beneath him.

"I miss them too, especially Melanie's cooking..." Eevee frowned.

The spirit was down, and the two of them were upset at what happened before their very eyes, it was horrible... That was, until Vulpix finally woke up from her little nap. She slowly opened her eyes, looking straight at Eevee's. She smiled up at him, giving him a kiss on the cheek! The gesture paid off, making Eevee smile in return!

"Morning Hun, how'd you sleep?" He felt his sadness fade away upon feeling her cold body against his own, his lover brought so much joy to him, and he did the same thing for her... The two of them were in fact... In love with one another, till the very end of time...

"Morning! *Yawn* What did I miss while I was knocked out?" Vulpix smiled, wagging her tail against his.

But at that very moment, Zorua realized what Eevee said beforehand... About Melanie's cooking.

"Wait, are you trying to say that Melanie's cooking is better than James?" Zorua stood up on all four, giving him a killer look.

"*gulp* I uh... YES! I admit it! Her cooking was better than James! She made such good deserts after all those showcase challenges... I'm starting to miss those ice cream filled pellets!" Eevee licked his mouth with his tongue, hearing his stomach rumble in the background.

Vulpix giggled at the sound, and then she rolled her eyes in annoyance at the two.

"Don't remind me of those pellets... They're good and all, but eating a tasty berry in the wild is so much better, but now that you mention it, I miss having a Trainer... Those showcases were a lot of fun..." She let out a deep sigh, getting a short hug from Eevee.

"Well, despite what happened... I still think you're the greatest Pokemon Performer in the history of performers! Look on the bright side, at least Rosie got to taste defeat in the Masters Class!" Eevee smiled, forcing a grin on her face!

"Pfft... Well if you really think that Melanie has better cooking than James, then I might as well back him up by teasing you!" Zorua snickered, grinning evilly.

"What?" Eevee tilted his head in confusion, wondering what he meant by that.

"Hm... You always say the sweetest things Eevee... *smooch*" Vulpix giggled, kissing him on the mouth.

The two exchanged looks at one another, then they finally went in for a deeper passionate kiss, forcing Zorua to look away in disgust.

"Guuuh! Must you two always do that in front of me? Arceus help me!" Zorua looked up into the sky, requesting help from the elderly god.

He quickly stopped looking up, when a light bulb came to mind! And it was the perfect way to get back at Eevee!

"*whistle* Well... If you two are gonna keep making out like that, you might as well propose to her now Eevee..." Zorua closed his eyes, turning away from them even more.

As soon as he got the word out, Eevee and Vulpix broke away from the kiss! Both faces turning into tomatoes almost instantly! The couple held each other, but they were very embarrassed!

"P-Propose?" Vulpix blushed, it was so sudden to think about that stuff!

"Yeah, and you two might as well do that other thing... Ah... I can just picture it! Me as an uncle! Your kids are obviously going to be little Eevee's and Vulpix's running around the place!" Zorua winked at them, laughing out loud!

The couple were so shocked, that they couldn't find the words to use! Their brains were too busy thinking about getting married to one another! And even having kids to go along with it! Nonetheless... Zorua, yet again... Made the scene awkward...


	20. Teaser 2

"I didn't mean it like that... You know that's a fact! Don't deny it!" Alex shouted at the top of his lungs, with the cold air surrounding him.

"It is what I think, you're just being ungrateful! You aren't the Alex I know! You aren't... The Alex I fell in love with..." Melanie sighed, shedding a tear on the side of her face.

The tear came streaming down, as the two of them locked gazes with one another. Both of them refused to look away, as both of their hearts were shattered.

"What're you trying to say? That I'M THE BAD GUY? Is that what you think? And it wasn't my fault it led us to this! I'm just extremely upset that I lost that battle! I should've won it! I had the type advantages on my side, my Pokemon let me down, especially my partner!" Alex continued yelling furiously, throwing the hat off of his head.

The hat landed onto the ground, causing some snow to move around past it... Melanie only looked at him in disbelief, she didn't recognize him anymore... He wasn't being his normal cheerful self anymore...

"James left, because he thought that you were going crazy over these gym battles! James and I have been through your side since the very beginning! I've been there for you when you needed it the most! And you also helped me get through my showcases too! That's why I fell in love with you Alex... You were such a stand up guy, you were a hero to me, my hero! I'm not trying to be all cliche and romantic, but face it... You're not acting like yourself! Just forget about losing the gym battle, and we'll get through it together! You and me... Us together!" Melanie tried shrugging it off, taking a few steps towards him.

She wanted to comfort him, as she felt the anger building up inside of him, never before has she ever seen him this angry... He just needed to cool it all off...

"THE ONLY THING THAT'LL GET ME THROUGH TODAY IS BY AVOIDING YOU! AND I CAN CARE LESS ABOUT JAMES! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOSE A BATTLE YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE!" He snapped at her, stepping away from her angrily.

He turned around facing the other direction, leaving her alone with a broken heart...

"A-Alex..." Melanie sobbed after what she heard, it felt like she was just shot by a bullet...

He wanted to... Avoid her?

"Don't even bother saying my name..." Alex stopped dead in his tracks, looking down at the snowy grounds.

That was until... He felt a giant object striking him in the back of his head! It collided against his, making him retaliate in total pain and shock! He wiped off whatever hit him, figuring out that it was an icy snowball! He turned around to face his girlfriend, seeing the sad look on her face, he was shocked... Purely shocked...

"THEN YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT ME! WE'RE DONE!" Melanie stomped on the ground, walking away with her arms crossed.

She walked past the people who were watching them, and some of them had confused looks on their faces, while others found it entertaining! And with that, Alex didn't care for her anymore... She was just a shadow in the background, just standing there... He fell to the snowy ground, landing hard on his back. He looked up into the clear blue snowy skies, shocked that she left him so suddenly like that.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He covered his face, shouting angrily at the top of his lungs.

She was gone... After everything they've been through together... The encounter with Hoopa's true form, dealing with Team Flare, dealing with Aether, dealing with everything... Even their rivals... Even... His partner's old Trainer... All of those precious memories faded away into the back of his mind, as he had just lost his two closest friends on his journey...


End file.
